Family

I am an only child. Some of you may know that, others might now understand why I am the way I am. I crave family. Crave it! My mom has two sisters and only one of them had children. And she only had one! That cousin, Stacy, moved away when I was 12 and we didn't have much of a relationship after that. But the rest of my family...they're incredible! My grandpa is one of seven children and they all lived within ten miles of each other for many years. Of their children most lived in this area. That means that when we get together we could claim our own zip code. I grew up going to a cousins house that had a pond, paddleboat, potato launcher, fireworks on the 4th, a swing set, volleyball court for tournaments, a caboose we could play in, horses, acres of land to roam, and all the food you could possibly want. It was heaven for an only child. I never wanted to leave.

That house was sold and we all grew up and the family parties are now few and far between. We sometimes have Christmas parties, or football parties but no one has the property needed to house all of us. It also seems that we're all so busy with our own lives that the groups are getting smaller and smaller.

We had a party tonight for Aunt Beanie's 89th birthday. There were only two from my generation! The rest of my generation has siblings and parents that they get together with. I don't have that. And I want it! I have tried. And I need to try harder. Family is too important to miss out on. And mine is pretty incredible.

Just to tell you how amazing Shawn is...

The first time Shawn met my whole family there were 70 of us! He knew more about most of them by the time we left. I almost proposed to him on the spot!