Cousins 1996
It’s just the right kind of morning to lean back in the recliner and reflect – eight gallons of pickles are in progress, the rain came and relieved me of the watering job, the house is as clean as it’s going to be today and there’s nothing to do in the garden as most of the veggies have dried up already.
Ah, the benefits of living at the home place — it was cousins day here over the week end and what a day it was!
There were eight Lang first cousins and six of them, along with their spouses (or could the plural be spice?) came in top form.
I regret that I could not be everywhere and hear all the individual conversations — each person had his/her own memories of this place and how it used to be.
Some lamented about the loss of the large old trees while others commented that the front door is not where it used to be. We all laughed about some of the dogs Daddy used to own and the many problems he experienced with them. It seems most of Daddy’s dogs had the name of “Cooter.”
“Hold up your head up and be somebody” was an often-used term my mother used when we (the older generation) were growing up and without a doubt she and Daddy would be proud of the grandchildren.
We really had a professional group – college degrees enough to please the most fastidious of grandparents. It was decided this family could set up some sort of medical facility.
There are two registered nurses – with one studying to be a physician’s assistant; a medical technologist, who can tell you anything you want to know about the blood test after she runs the blood through her sophisticated machine; a cardiac surgeon; a pharmacist; a salesman for a surgical supply company and a computer person who is on the leading edge of high technology. She would be able to set up the computers to run the operation.
Another cousin could help with pensions and annuities. Of course, we had several teachers present and the two missing cousins are teachers, too. We laughed and said about the only profession not represented was that of an undertaker. Just such a person might be needed to bury the mistakes of all these medical professionals.
Wish I could have seen what happened on the sun porch at lunch time. Several were eating at the picnic table and I’m told one cousin kept moving her husband’s plate, causing him to complain vigorously. It seems she was trying to look at all the old pictures displayed under the glass on the table top!
Lots of time was spent reminiscing, laughing and looking at the many pictures provided by the older family members.
The center of attention had to be the 2-year-old, dressed to the nth degree in her pretty smocked dress. She visits New York’s Central Park on a daily basis. We managed to give her a crash course in animals, introducing her to real live cats, dogs an cows.
All too soon the day was over and another generation left the old home place with warm thoughts and memories of family and country living