Long lost cousins

My mother was an only child. She spent her entire adult life longing for a sibling. My father was the youngest of seven. He spent most of his adult life having very little contact with his large, extended family. Which is a shame as far as I'm concerned.

Before my parents divorced when I was in third grade, we got to spend time with some of my father's family. But after they divorced, we only saw them a handful of times. My dad could be difficult, and I think he just never felt that close to his brothers and sisters. Maybe some of that was because he was the baby of the family. His parents were well into their 40s when he was born, and I can only imagine how challenging it must have been with a change-of-life baby born at the start of World War II. 

I was happy to discover over the summer that my cousin Connie lives conveniently close to our lake house. Her dad and mine were brothers. She and I have already met for lunch a couple times, and it has been so nice to reconnect with her. Because she's almost fifteen years older than me, she has kept in touch with some of our other cousins. And so earlier this month I hosted a few of them at our lake house for the day.  

After polling Connie and my sister, we landed on BBQ with all the fixin's for lunch. Connie provided several desserts, while I ordered these darling cupcakes below from a local baker I've been wanting to try. I'm happy to report they were as tasty as they were cute. After lunch, I took the kiddos and some of the adults for a tour of the lake in our pontoon, which they enjoyed. Because seriously... doesn't everybody like a boat ride?!

Connie brought several pics to share with the cousins. Both of my dad's parents died before I was born. If I had ever seen a picture of them, I was too young to remember. And thus it was a revelation to see a few images of my paternal grandmother, Ira Lee. Born in 1896, she missed my birth by three years. I was blessed with my wonderful maternal grandmother, Doris. And yet I can't help but wonder how much more my childhood might have been enriched by a relationship with Ira, too.