“Our First Friends for Life: Cousins”
This topic has followed me around the last few weeks in preparation for my husband’s “cousin’s weekend.” I was one of the party planners who kept track of the details and duties for the big event. The final count: 80 people, with 60 adults, and 20 children under the age of 12, there were babies galore. The family festivities began the moment people arrived in town and lasted through the weekend with the big finale being held at a local park where kids could run and adults converse.
In the planning of the cousin’s weekend, I recalled my own family reunions growing up which were held yearly on both sides of my family. My parents were always close with extended families of aunts, uncles, and cousins, and they wanted the same for my sister and I. Having large families, my dad with 7 siblings, his dad with 10, his father with 12, my maternal grandfather with 10, and maternal grandmother with 6, this many Irish make good fodder for a writer. We have a plethora of colorful characters and shenanigans to keep me writing for decades, including police officers in a mafia run town, an embezzler, a thief (married into the family) who expected my parents to stash stolen goods, mysterious deaths, several war veterans, musicians, and ministers.
I think about my cousins and how great it was to have a whole different set of friends to play with and who are still dear friends today. When visiting relatives, I was off busy playing and too young to comprehend most of the adult conversations as they sat around kitchen tables smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, and talking loudly. I assumed colorful language to be normal vernacular and gossip an acceptable topic. Many elders didn’t make senior life look very appealing; I heard enough about gallbladders to last a lifetime.
My first plane ride was with my cousin, who was also the cousin I mention in my first book “God is in the Odd…” She was the one who took my sister and I to a Pentecostal Revival for an earth-shaking memory making experience.
My first camping experiences were with my cousins. In my next book we explore camping in an Airstream motorhome, a significant upgrade from camping in the minivans of my childhood.
A few colleagues and friends recently shared about their upcoming trips with their cousins to the beach, weddings, and taking road trips together out of state. Through our conversations, we agreed it’s important to maintain family ties, especially after the parental glue is gone.
Watching my children’s children become cousins, with me as the matriarch, I finally understand how siblings, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, and cousins are the heart and soul of a family.
