We Are Fam-i-ly!

 

In the family that started with the grandparents, there were four girl cousins. There was a boy cousin, too, but he's not part of this story. The age range of those cousins was considerable: twenty years from the oldest to the youngest. And we weren't a family that did a lot of visiting. The oldest had four daughters and my sister and I had three between us and the one that moved to the west coast also had two. Over the years Bonnie and I became close to Doris (the oldest) to the point that as someone recently (about three hours ago) said, "You three are more like sisters than cousins." We always were happy to see that California cousin (Diana) when she'd come east and knew that we were missing out on something by not knowing her daughters, even though we'd met them ever-so-briefly about a hundred years ago when they came to town for a major funeral.

It all changed today.

A month or so ago Janet emailed me that she and Debby (think Thelma and Louise, complete with convertible) were making a pilgrimage to the East Coast with the object of connecting with the family they'd missed out on. What did I think? I thought it was spectacular and contacted everyone else about coming to lunch and most of them were able and, what's more, offered to help with the meal. 

There were a total of ten of us for lunch today, ranging from 45 to 95 in age, and I cannot think when I've laughed so much. Apparently, in our family, funny doesn't skip a generation. Doris and Bonnie and I represented one generation and the other seven were the next. Two invitees were unable to attend (Susan and Nancy) but their names were represented in others present. Stories were told, memories shared, explanations provided and occasional secrets revealed. Mostly we reveled in each other's company (despite some never having met previously) and laughed and laughed and laughed. And talked about when Thelma and Louise might next come east so we could do it all again.

A pre-festivity lesson on the use of the pastry bag.

The educational component to the event: Karen explains the relationships using her white board.