Faded Photographs

My extended family celebrated my paternal grandmothers 85th birthday yesterday! It was really nice to celebrate her life, and to get together with my aunts and uncles and cousins who live in the area. I know having 4 generations of her family gathered around her to celebrate was a great gift for my grandma. I always love these "events" with my extended family. For me, yesterday's gathering also provided one of those moments where you take stock of your life, of where you come from, where you might be headed and what, through it all grounds you.
My extended family is a big one--my grandmother and grandfather have 9 children (7 boys and 2 girls), 23 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren (sorry if I missed anyone). My mom and dad grew up together and so their families pretty much always knew one another...the result being my aunts, uncles and cousins on my moms side are also pretty much intermingled with the aunts,uncles and cousins on my dads side...we have always been one big, intermingled family! Counting both sides, I have 11 aunts and uncles and 29 cousins. This extended family, near and far, has occupied a central part of my life for as long as I can remember, I can't imagine not having the stability and chaos that comes with it...aunts who are like second moms, cousins who are more like sisters. This family network of sorts has always been the central characteristic of my persona--through it all, I have always come from, been grounded in and supported by a family that extends beyond my parents and brother (it takes a village!). I truly appreciated this yesterday and am really very grateful for this gift, and hope that its importance extends to and beyond my children.
As per usual at our family gatherings we relived old memories and shared lots of laughs and old stories...some retold for the umpteenth time, others new and destined to become classics treasured at each telling (uncle K and the beatles wig)...lots of laughs. I also "stumbled upon" my parents book of wedding proofs, and had a fun time looking through these old pictures. Appropriate to the celebration of my grandmother and her greatest accomplishment, he is one of my very favorite pictures from that album.

This is a picture of my dads immediate family. His parents, 6 brothers (and one of their wives), and 2 sisters. I am not sure how my grandmother is still sane having raised 7 boys, but God bless her!


Things I LOVE...the gram, the fam and that photos never get old