cousins


As you already know I have just recently acquired a new piece of "office equipment". It has already proved invaluable for things like faxing information for our business and printing out the receipts from my Internet banking but I actually had plans for it that would be far more entertaining for the purchaser.
Yesterday I was reading my niece Lori's blog and she was talking about the joy of having cousins. In the picture above I am the smallest one in the left hand corner. I love this picture. It was taken at a time when life was simple and my parents and my aunts and uncles enjoyed many Sunday afternoon Faspa's together. This visiting on Sunday afternoon did not need to be planned far in advance. A simple phone call at the urging of one of us was all it would take to secure an invitation. My Auntie Tina made the best buns. I don't believe we were ever turned away from staying for supper because fresh buns had not been made. She prepared to be hospitable. My cousin Julie is the pretty one behind me in the back row to the left. My earliest memories about going to Auntie Tina and Uncle Jake's house don't really include Julie. The only memory of I have of her living in that house is seeing her wedding dress hanging in the bedroom ready for her to be a bride. She sewed it herself and I absolutely loved it. It was a beautiful ball gown. I'm not sure how much Julie sewed before that but since then she has sewn many very beautiful wedding dresses for brides.
It's interesting how our lives connect and then reconnect. Julie and I have not really known each other very well. Perhaps it was because of our difference in age. Our extended family doesn't connect as often as we once did. Our grandparents have passed away and then as it often happens, families lose their reason to be together for the major Holidays.
Since I have started this blog, Julie has been a source of encouragement to me. She immediately "delurked" and has since regularly left notes to spur me on. I say all this, because I feel that it really has been a blessing from God to have this opportunity that I may have otherwise missed. I always knew she was gifted. What I confess I didn't truly know, was that Julie is a very kind cousin. I've also learned that we share many of the same interests. When I was little I often wished that I had a girl cousin my own age. I was too little then to know that God knew exactly what his plans for me were. He knew what was best for me and gave me everything that I would need. Isn't it wonderful that long after God's plan was put in place, we continue to realize the gifts that he has given us?

Comments

  1. Oh Lovella, what a beautiful memory jogger!!I remember wonderful extended family get togethers and I always loved coming to your house, although it was Ken and Richy your older brothers that I played with. Our age difference kept us from being friends as children but we are making up for lost time, right?
    (You don't seem sooo much younger any more !! smile)

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  2. So sorry to hear of the spaghetti sauce fall! And this post of family is so beautiful and the iceicle picture below, haha wow I don't think I've seen iceicles like that ever...I mean I remember there being half the size of those in the 80's but now there no longer are. It's so sad how things change sometime hey?

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  3. Your memory shares are a blessing to me too. I think I would have liked being your friend as a kid, and would definitely enjoyed knowing someone up in the "other" country. While you were building snowmen, I built sandmen on the beach-really! My cousins roamed the world with their air force fathers, so the extended family was very seldom together.
    Keep sharing your memories. My folks only took slides, and they have almost all of my childhood pictures. I disliked the hauling out a projector to see our pictures as a kid, and now as an adult I am even more irked.
    The only good thing about it is that slides do hold their color longer than prints.

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  4. Thank you Jill, for your encouragement. It is a small world, you never know . . one day we may see each other in Mexico or Hawaii and say . . wait a minute, do I know you? That would be pretty funny.
    Oh, and I have reels and reels of slides. I have a friend who has a scanner for slides and I'll likely borrow that for those memories as well. I don't think I'll ever run out of material.

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  5. I just recently revived a cousin relationship..I have 54 first cousins....whew!
    Peg a cousin on my moms side lost her husband (51)... we all(on my moms side) have vowed to stay in touch, maybe do some outings, and mostly be a calm, family, spiritual force for Peg to lean on.

    In my last months archives I dedicated a blog to her hubby...Bud Boyce...
    nice to meet you via farmgirlcyn.

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