cousin summer.
this is shaping up to be a cousin summer, full on.
i love it when my kids are able to meet extended family that they didn't even know they have. you're my cousin?? what!?? i think they are coming to visualize the immensity of my side of the family. my dad came from a big family. his siblings each had a a handful of kids. then many of their kids have pretty sizable families. our family tree is a giant sequoia.
actually it feels more like pando.
and i love that.
i love that i see my cousins and remember them when they were young. those memories are triggered as i watch their children who look a little like they looked and act a little like they acted.
i made a new friend recently, jeremy, who is a very interesting fellow. he's been homeless before and he still lives a similar lifestyle, working by collecting cans and doing odd jobs. he and his wife compete in the special olympics together. he carries a spirit of love and kindness everywhere he goes, and once he knows you he thinks of you as a friend forevermore. jeremy calls his close friends his cousins.
there is beauty in understanding that we all come from the same roots somehow, somewhere.
my cousin amy was my idol as a child. i remember going to see her in the musical "babes in toyland" when she played little bo peep. i also remember watching her speak from the pulpit in church. i even remember a little of what she said. i remember because i was so confused and baffled as a pre-teeny-bopper whose friends were my life. she said, "friends are for the time, but family is forever."
whether we're born into or adopted into or we accidentally stumble upon our family, there is just something eternal about some relationships. that may not always look the same for everyone, but i feel it's a truth.
my siblings are some of my dearest and closest friends. my children and darling husband will be with me forever. my parents are the very source of my being and could never be removed from me. my cousins are happy sprouts from the same system that add to the richness and breadth to the entire whole.
i love that my kids get to experience that wealth.
when else would they feel absolutely comfortable stowing away with people they hardly know?
i love it when my kids are able to meet extended family that they didn't even know they have. you're my cousin?? what!?? i think they are coming to visualize the immensity of my side of the family. my dad came from a big family. his siblings each had a a handful of kids. then many of their kids have pretty sizable families. our family tree is a giant sequoia.
actually it feels more like pando.
and i love that.
i love that i see my cousins and remember them when they were young. those memories are triggered as i watch their children who look a little like they looked and act a little like they acted.
i made a new friend recently, jeremy, who is a very interesting fellow. he's been homeless before and he still lives a similar lifestyle, working by collecting cans and doing odd jobs. he and his wife compete in the special olympics together. he carries a spirit of love and kindness everywhere he goes, and once he knows you he thinks of you as a friend forevermore. jeremy calls his close friends his cousins.
there is beauty in understanding that we all come from the same roots somehow, somewhere.
my cousin amy was my idol as a child. i remember going to see her in the musical "babes in toyland" when she played little bo peep. i also remember watching her speak from the pulpit in church. i even remember a little of what she said. i remember because i was so confused and baffled as a pre-teeny-bopper whose friends were my life. she said, "friends are for the time, but family is forever."
whether we're born into or adopted into or we accidentally stumble upon our family, there is just something eternal about some relationships. that may not always look the same for everyone, but i feel it's a truth.
my siblings are some of my dearest and closest friends. my children and darling husband will be with me forever. my parents are the very source of my being and could never be removed from me. my cousins are happy sprouts from the same system that add to the richness and breadth to the entire whole.
i love that my kids get to experience that wealth.
when else would they feel absolutely comfortable stowing away with people they hardly know?
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