Kinfolk

Today my extended family welcomed our newest member: Catherine Marie. It's also one of my favorite cousin's birthday today: Colleen. Reading all the comments on the baby, seeing new pictures on Colleen's Facebook page filled me with waves of longing for the days when we all lived closer to each other.

 Growing up, spending time with my first cousins was filled with lots of fun. There are so many great memories: sitting around Grandmother and Pop Pop's overheated apartment at Christmas time watching everyone eat in shifts because the place was so small.  My favorite memory was of the big family reunion  we held in our backyard. We played games and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. Colleen's dad ran the roulette wheel.  It was better than a day at Disney.

I loved visiting the Aunts and Uncles. If we went to Uncle George and Aunt Edna's we were sure to have a party, often around his pool. Uncle Hank and Aunt Betty treated us to ice cream and we played with our cousins under the eaves of their Cape Cod.

They loved visiting our house too. Cousins came over and we played board games or danced to the music of the Monkees. Looking back I see how blessed we were to live close by.

When my Aunt and Uncle moved to Florida, I was heartbroken. I missed seeing Colleen and her family, but we became pen pals. Before Facebook, email and cell phones we picked up a pen and wrote letters to each other.

Tucked away in a shoe box a few of those letters survived. How I wish the others had not been discarded while I was away at college. It would be wonderful to rediscover my twelve and thirteen year old self in those letters.

I hope our newest member of the family grows up with as many wonderful memories of her cousins aunts and uncles as I have. Perhaps one day soon, she can meet her far away cousins at a family reunion. I hope we still have the roulette wheel.