Cousin Party

In March of this year my grandfather passed away.  It was my mom's dad, her first parent to go, my second grandpa to leave this earth.  Even though he'd had some health issues for the past seven years, his death was very unexpected, and it rocked our family.  My mom is the eldest of five children, and my grandparents were further blessed with twelve grandchildren and at that time, nine great-grandchildren, with two more on the way.

Growing up in Ohio with most of my cousins (two lived in Arizona) was a wonderful experience.  With all the birthdays, anniversaries and holidays to celebrate, we saw each other on a very regular basis.  And by regular I mean it was VERY uncommon to go a month without seeing each other.  Because of this, all of us cousins grew up very close, and I have some of my most cherished memories with them all. 

We've obviously grown up since then, given that I moved from Ohio seventeen years ago and have now lived in both places the same amount of time.  Some have married, some have had kids of their own, and it still amazes me that when we get together, even under the most somber of circumstances, nothing has changed.  We've added amazing spouses to this cousin clan, and not only do they all tolerate us, but they get along with each other as well.  We have a great time, and it always warms my heart with childhood memories.

As we gathered in Ohio this time to say goodbye to grandpa together, my cousin Christi had a great idea to have a cousin "party" to get us all together and say goodbye from our generation.  Two cousins weren't able to make it that weekend; my cousin Nikki in Arizona who was expecting her second child, and my cousin Keith who is serving overseas in Korea.  They were terribly missed, but there in spirit.

I have a ton of pictures from all events growing up; us all lined up by age, etc...unfotunately none on digital to share with you now, but here are some from that weekend.

Grandkids

Top Row: Christopher, Brian, Johnnie

Middle: Christi, Karen, Me

Bottom: Scott, Kerri, Jen

Grandkid in-laws: Chris(Christi's Husband), Missy (Johnnie's Wife), Sarah (Christopher's Wife), Nathan (my Husband)

Great-Grandkids:

Morgan, Alyssa, Kyler, Sammie, Reese, Lily, Brenna

At my grandma's 80th birthday Nathan and I went up to celebrate with them and share the good news that we were expecing our first child, Sammie.  When my grandpa gave me a hug to say congratulations he said he'd been doing a lot of thinking about all the milestones he'd been able to enjoy in his life time.  Seeing all of his children married and become parents, seeing them celebrate 25th wedding anniversaries, seeing most of his grandkids (at that time) graduate from high school, some from college, military, police academy, etc..., and more recently, seeing his grandkids become parents, and his children become grandparents.  With our news, mom made four out of five to be grandparents.  He told me that it would really be nice to see all of his children become grandparents before he died, and a short time later my cousin Brian made it so with the birth of his son, Kemper.

I hope that when I reach that time in my life I have the presence of mind to look back on all that I had, all that saw, and all that I enjoyed instead of what I didn't do.  Family is the most important thing in life to me, and I can't imagine a better way to measure my life later than by those moments and milestones I was able to share with them all.