Cousins

I never lived any where near my cousins growing up. I grew up in the Midwest. I had cousins on the East Coast, cousins on the West Coast and cousins in Europe. We saw our cousins infrequently. And yet I have fantastic memories of times with my cousins. My parents made the effort to get us together. Ski trips. Trips to Cape Cod. Summertime visits. I remember camping in my Grandma's back yard on Cape Cod. I remember playing on the Big Rock at Uncle Andy's house. I remember fishing on Uncle George's boat.




I haven't done the best at keeping in touch with my cousins as adults. And yet, when we do see each other at the occasional wedding or family reunion I am amazed at the flood of positive memories which come back to me from those infrequent times together as children.
My children are fortunate. Many of their cousins live in town. And yet it is still an effort to get together. I want to make that effort so my children have similar memories of their cousins. Here was a somewhat impromptu gathering at Aunt Holly's house to celebrate one of my neice's birthdays. After cake and ice cream the kids decided they wanted to get back in the pool. As the long Ohio summer evening drew into darkness they continued to splash and race and have chicken fights on inflatable animals. The kids in the pool ranged from age 4 to age 13. The older ones helped the younger swimmers. We stayed way later than we had intended and yet it was clear to all of us that this was one of those moments that builds that history of shared experience between the cousins. And so we let it drag on. And as we did I remembered days of splashing in my uncle's pool with my cousins and I was glad my parents let us.