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Most of us are observers, I choose to write about what I see.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Cousins

Yesterday I spent part of my afternoon with the cousins for an informal family dinner. We've spent quite a bit of time together this month, but were still happy to see each another once again.

Most of the cousins are female ranging in age from about 74, down to three years old, and spanning three generations. A man I was dating once told me that I came from a female dominated family, as though this was something undesirable.

We gathered and ate macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, collard greens, roast pork, and drank sweet iced tea. Dessert was home made lemon cake. And as usual, we all talked simultaneously.

The men in attendance, adult sons of one of the cousins, and husbands of the other cousins, all gathered round the television in the living room watching some adventure movie. Compared to the cousins, they were relatively quiet.

In my mind, I can't remember a time when the cousins were not a part of my life. When I was young, the older cousins were often my babysitters, advisors, and homework helpers. Now that I'm middle aged, I think that they feel their hard work has paid off.

We used to gather weekly for a meal, a laugh, and the pure fun of being together. Today however, the cousins live throughout the state and throughout the country, and our gatherings are sparsely scattered across the landscape of each passing year.

Even though we see each other so infrequently, time seems to both roll backwards and stand still once we are together. And it is during this small blip in our inner world, that our changed and evolving selves come together, like the patchwork quilts in the roots of our past, providing warmth and comfort for our present and future.

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