Walt's sister shared a picture the other day,
This is Walt's cousin and his wife, another cousin and kids with spouses (whom I don't recognize). It got me thinking about relatives.
My mother was the 8th in a family of 10 and they were all close. My sister and I weren't as close to the aunts and uncles as others were because my father didn't like my mother's family, whom he felt were "country bumpkins," but I did grow up knowing my aunts and uncles and many of my 32 cousins. I loved getting together with my aunts and playing cards and I spent every summer with one of my cousins, 2 weeks at her house, 2 weeks at our house. And, of course, for many years, my two cousins and I spent overnights with my mother, playing cards--our "Cousins Day."
But now my parents are both dead, my sister is dead, the cousins I knew the best are dead and of course all of my aunts and uncles are dead. Essentially I have no relatives any more.
I'm fortunate that I have always been close to Walt's family and when I think of family I think of these people in the picture, as well as his sister and brother and their spouses, who live in California. But I don't share their background and there is nobody in my life who shares mine.
It makes me feel very sad.
I'm quite a bit younger than you (50) Both my parents and in-laws passed, and while my husband has a siblings and I have a few, we don't really keep in touch since my parents died. We have a teenager and fortunately a good amount of friends but I wish we had more events for our kid to attend with family.
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