My Cousin Linda

I’d love to introduce you to my cousin Linda. Linda (or fish as she is known to some of us) was born on Jan 10th, 1959. She is the oldest of 3 children born to Anna May (Honey) Granger Sosa Kodoma and Armando Sosa. She was born in New York City but has also lived in Florida, Utah and currently New Jersey ~ although I think it’s her hope to someday move to Las Vegas to be closer to her sister Cathy and brother Danny.
Linda’s mom and my mom were sisters. Both wonderful women were crazy, wonderful , beautiful and loved to sing. Both of them left us way too early.
Of all my cousins growing up, I think I was closest to Linda. She is the closest in age to me, being 2 years my junior, and my sister Joey and I spent several summers with Linda and her family. I have wonderful memories of those summers ~ swimming at Round Pond, road trips to see other family members ~ singing goofy (and sometimes sad) songs all the way up and back. Being scared silly by our Uncle Dick who told the best scary stories ever! I remember the water truck that used to come ~ not sure what purpose that served but I remember after they were done doing whatever they did, they’d spray us with the giant hose and let us play in the water. A rare treat back then. I remember the sounds of New York City and playing behind the apartment buildings and the woman that used to bring us penny candy on her way home from work.
Anyway… there are several things that stand out in my mind about Linda.
One is her love of animals. She is a huge advocate for all animals. Most people are “dog people” or “cat people.” She is both. If there is an animal in need, she is there.
Secondly is her love of God ~ okay, well, maybe that should have been first. I know it is for her. Linda is a devout Mormon and very active in her church. Much like her love of animals, if there is a person in need, she will also be there.

And the most obvious thing you will know about my cousin Linda is her admiration/adoration of the one and only Donny Osmond. As a young girl Linda was enamored of all things Donny . Me, I was a David Cassidy fan. Anyway… as she read about the Osmonds and their faith, she was so impressed that she and her sister started attending services in NY and eventually moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University. She did end up meeting Donny and the rest of his family and has done work for them off and on. She remains friends with many of his family to this day.
Linda is not only one of the Granger Cousin Clan ~ she is the glue that holds us all together. She is the family historian, the keeper of the family photos and the instigator of many joint family emails helping us all to get reacquainted.
Recently I got to see Linda again after 28 years. She flew into Orlando and I got to pick her up from the airport so we could spend the night together catching up before I took her to see her Dad and his family for a  visit. She is just as wonderful a person as I remember and it was amazing getting to spend time with her .  We had a nice dinner at my new favorite restaurant on the Indian River, and then we drove over to Cocoa Pier and spent some time looking down at the water.  We stayed up really late talking about the past, our families and the future. We really need to do this again ~ very soon!