Family

We have received several beautiful messages and cards from family and friends following Mother's funeral. When I was growing up, we always lived at least 7 or 8 hours away from extended family, but we still visited a lot since both Grandmothers lived in the same small town.

Most of my aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of the family stayed in the area, so we visited with them, too, while seeing Grandmothers. It was nice and I always wanted to live closer to extended family. Once I became a teenager, it wasn't so important as I was establishing my own life. But seeing so many family members at Mom's funeral brought back a lot of great memories, and brought some sadness, too.

I am one of the youngest of my generation. I have 2 younger cousins (not counting 3 others in another country whom I have never met). Mother and Daddy were in their 40s when I was born. The gathering was a reminder of how the family is dimishing. My aunt died in January (sadly, I did not know this until then). My uncle (her husband) died in October. These were people I spent a great deal of time with during my childhood. In fact, I am named after this aunt. I am sorry that I didn't know she died until a few days ago. I couldn't have gone to her funeral because of Mom need care, but I could have sent something to the family. I will do that soon. My cousin's husband died the day before Mother died. Another cousin is in a hospice facility nearing the end of pancreatic cancer. Of course, there are the many many others preceding them, too, over the last few years.

I am sad that I don't spend more time with my family. I am sad that I don't make the effort to spend more time with family and that we rarely see each other unless it's at a funeral. I am sad that there is only 1 other surviving sibling of my Mother's generation. I realize that Mom was the center of the family activity and kept everyone in touch with each other, even the extended family. I envy those who have stayed geographically close together, even Lisa who lives on an 80 acre tract near her parents and her brothers and their families.

Here is a link to the beautiful video that Jamie made in tribute to her Grandma. It's a few minutes to watch, if you have the time. Of course, the woman in the photos is Mom. The first photo was taken when she was 17 in 1935. The song is "Foggy Dew," an Irish wake song, fitting since she was Irish and American Indian.