There Will Be Cousins

 

 

How she used to say, “I could make

better tapioca with two hands tied behind my back”

when we stopped at Luby’s Restaurant in Tulsa

for a treat because she didn’t get out much—

made us Christmas fudge, hemmed our dresses,
drove carloads of grandkids in a 57’ Chevy
as we held on to velvet rope in the back seat,
a row of six and Grandma. 

 

I’m in a hurry for a grandbaby. There, I said it. I have two great looking prospects in order for this dream to come true, my daughter and her husband. But wait, they might have other plans that don’t include starting a family right this minute. I will have to be patient. I’m not a patient person either, the Lord knows I’m not, but I will try. 

Still, I want to shout to get the show on the road— there is a crop of cousins to grow! There are meals, baseball games and swimming until your muscles ache to coordinate. The memories I have of my cousins and our times together are forever implanted in the bedrock of who I am and what I want for my future grandchildren.

My grandmother had four children who in turn had thirteen children. There were twelve girls and one boy. Every year we all visited each other’s “worlds” during holidays or at other times and had some wild, grand experiences. Each family came from a slightly different flavored environment, meaning, some lived in the country, some in the city, sometimes both.  

In the summer, it was a treat to visit Uncle Bob and Aunt Jackie’s house in the city because they had an above ground swimming pool with a pump and everything. I mean, it wasn’t plastic or a round metal cattle trough (that would’ve been us). No, it had enough water to actually dive into the pool! We were in heaven. My uncle lived and worked near the airport in Tulsa so the added pleasure was when a plane flew over, the belly of it seemed as if it was ten feet above our heads. The sound was so loud, we couldn’t hear ourselves scream. It was definitely a rush.

Practically every cousin could fit into that pool, that’s how big it was. We would swim for a couple of hours, go inside and eat, make pallets and sleep under the hum of the air conditioner. Sleep doesn’t come any more sublime than under those conditions. Afterward, we would get our bathing suits back on and swim until dark.

One time, Aunt Bettie (from the city) drove us around in her blue Ford Mustang in 1968 when everyone came to our little town in Pawnee to visit. I think it was a new car and we were all taking turns circling the courthouse.  Aunt Bettie sang along with Neil Diamond, Sweeeet Caroline…da, da, da…good times never seemed so good… I remember thinking then, what a cool aunt from the city, sigh. Her house had matching furniture, a carport she actually used for her car instead of storage, and a front lawn with Bermuda grass instead of dandelions.  

When we visited Aunt Patsy’s house it was another great treat because we always played baseball, kind of. Things could get really crazy, maybe because we only had one boy cousin who had his hands full with all of us crying, whining, “I can’t get to second base because I have to go to the bathroom!” girls. He was so athletic and, well, I think there were only two out of the eleven of us who could actually throw the ball from home to first base. I mean I’m talking hard core drastic divisiveness between a wicked ball playing, tree house building, rock throwing boy we all admired (and feared) vs. a giggling, undisciplined, “let’s go inside and play with Barbie’s Dream House” group of girls. I don’t know how he managed to be as kind as he was—I might have thrown a few more rocks. 

These are just a few of the uncountable happy memories I had with my cousins, aunts and uncles. It’s so important for families to get together throughout the year when kids are young. I don’t remember a lot of things from the past twenty years quite as vividly as I recall those times. There will surely be cousins…I must be patient.