For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

[MayinJerset]

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I have 24 first cousins, some are really great and a few shall be nameless. Growing up in Brooklyn our families all lived near each other and our social life revolved around family events. My older cousins help me grow up as I followed their lead in many ways. I chose the same high school my cousin Louise went to, she was going to be a secretary so that's what I choose too. Over the years we've made different choices, I was the first one to move away from the family in Brooklyn but now so many of us, our children and grandchildren are scattered all over the country but we're all still cousins, even my DH is known as Cousin Gene.

I have mostly girl cousins and 5 of us are so close that we are known as The Granny Cousins. We meet almost every month for lunch at each others homes, sometimes at restaurants and at least once a year go to a show or have a special activity. Last month our special activity was hosting a lunch at a Brooklyn diner for several of our cousins to catch up with each other, the group is getting smaller but we're always there for each other.

Tell us about your cousins. May in Jersey

[buckeyequilter]

Re: For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

I also have a lot of cousins - on my mom's side I have 40+ first cousins. When my grandmother passed away in 2003 she had 106 great-grandchildren....so we have nearly 300 people on my mom's side of the family. My grandma had 9 children that had all these offspring. I know all of my first cousins but from there I know some of them (there are just so many that I can't keep up and don't even try).

My grandma on dad's side had 11 children but the family is not nearly as large. I have 19 first cousins on his side.

[Lonna]

Re: For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

Small family here my Mother was an only child, my father had one brother and three sisters. So I have six cousins that I never really got to know very well. Of those six, four were in North and South Carolina and the other two in Calif. Growing up we lived in Concord Cali. for 16 years, at that time Brett and Donald lived in Bakersfield Calif. We then moved to Northglenn CO and Brett and Donald moved to Crescent City Calif. My cousins, Debbie, Terry, and Libby all lived in Little River South Carolina, my cousin Jennifer was born when I was 18 she lived in Shallott North Carolina. The last time I saw one of my cousins was back in 1982 when Donald help my Uncle Carl move my grandmother from Crescent City CA to Ponchatoula, LA. The last time I saw my cousins for the Carolina's was in 1974. We have never lived near family and I missed out on all of that which may be why I have been such a loner all my life. But it is all good.

[asta]

Re: For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

I have many cousins but never got close to any of them, most our family only saw once a year. I was very fortunate to marry into a family with lots of close cousins and they have taken me in. They are an awesome group and just a fun bunch. I have been blessed with a second family.
Beth

[GuitarGramma]

Re: For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

On my mom's side, I only had one cousin. He and my brother and I were really close growing up, but I haven't seen him in over a decade.

On my dad's side, I have a lot of wonderful cousins, and I'm closest to the most famous one. She is Carole Valleskey, formerly a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet:

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and currently the founder and artistic director of California Dance Institute, a non-profit which brings dance right into Los Angeles public schools:

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I'm pretty proud to be related to this hard working dancer.

[shannonsaulter]

Re: For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

I have two cousins in my dads side only recently met them on facebook...my mom had two brothers who never married so nada there..
It's a long sad tale of being disowned and drama so won't go into much detail.
I'll just say for those of you who still have ur parents
I am jealous as my mom has not spoken to me in 19+
years and my dad only through facebook for the last 3..
Embrace your families because some of us are not that lucky..

[ilive2craft2]

Re: For those of us who are lucky to have many cousins.....

Have lots of cousins on both sides of the family. My brothers and sister and I were not as prolific as the previous generation - just 7 grandkids total and they range in age from 30+ to 2 months, so some are closer than others. My son is an only who kind of fell in the middle gap.

I finally gave in and joined facebook after Christmas and had 25+ friends in just a couple of hours - once the cousins saw me on there, they all started friending me.