I miss my cousins!

I really do miss my cousins. My mom's family had 7 children which made for a total of 17 of us in the "Granger Cousin Clan." Now mind you, I did not grow up with my cousins. They all lived in New York or New Jersey while I was in the fun and sun capital of Miami and Miami Beach (not a bad place to gown up in back then). I did see them on rare occasions and actually spent several summers with my Aunt Honey. So I guess growing up I was closest to her daughter Linda who was also the closest in age to me.



There was also the time that three of my aunts with children in tow, showed up for my parents wedding in a VW bus that they "stole" from my Uncle. It was a crazy time with 16 people in a tiny little house... and did I mention that they showed up in the middle of the night in the middle of a thunderstorm and had all their luggage stored up on the roof. Everything was SOAKED.

I did get to see a few of them when on the spur of the moment I went with my sister Joey to see them when Jen was just a baby....This is Jimmy and George (don't ask me which is which) although I do talk to Jimmy more than any of the other cousins now. He keeps me up to date on all the latest happenings. But my point is, I didn't really grow up with them and I felt I was missing something ~ that there was a part of my life not quite whole.

When my Uncle Frank and Uncle George passed away a few years ago I went back. It was really the first time I had seen them all in so many years. Some of them had been so young they really didn't remember me although they had grown up hearing stories of "Crazy Aunt Dottie" aka my mom. And while it was a really sad occasion (losing 2 uncles in 2 days) it was a wonderful experience for me. For a little while "I" was one of the cousins and was treated like I had grown up with them. They accepted me as one of their own ~ I was loved, I was picked on and I was surrounded by my "clan." It was a glorious feeling.
The reason I am missing them at this moment is last night I went to pick up a pizza at Brooklyn Pizza and Pasta ~ a family owned restaurant here and what a family it was. Loud, crazy but definitely a family with all the cousins working together. It made me miss what could have been.

I have to say I have reconnected with some of my cousins ~ Here's Richard and my cousin Nate a couple of Halloweens ago. There is a Granger Cousin Clan vacation planned for next summer in Aruba. I'm still trying to figure out how we can get there without the two little ones. In the mean time ~ I'll be missing them all along with my Aunts and Uncles, those still here and those that are gone.

So this post is dedicated to family ~ not that first tier that you see and speak to on a regular basis... the "second string" which is so very important as well. So, how was your day?