Brunch with my cousins
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
January 6, 2013 9:43pm CST
I stopped in at my mother's house yesterday to pick up the part for my car as it was shipped to her house. When I got there she was in the middle of a long text conversation with one of my cousins (whom I haven't seen in over two years). By the time that I was leaving her house to get the car fixed, she tells me that Bob and Jo are coming down for brunch tomorrow (today) and I was welcome to join them if I'd like.
So this morning I got up early (for me) and got dressed and helped the kids get dressed and we went to Cracker Barrel so I could see my cousins. Of course, Tom would not get out of bed, so it was just me and the kids. It was great to be able to catch up with my cousin as we were very close when we were growing up. Mostly, I just hope that it won't be so long until I see them again or their son might be grown. 
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But seriously though, the last time that I saw them was when they had their son, Matty's first birthday party and he turned three in November.
Do you enjoy getting together with your extended family from time to time? If you do get together with them, what do you like to do when you are all together?
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But seriously though, the last time that I saw them was when they had their son, Matty's first birthday party and he turned three in November.
Do you enjoy getting together with your extended family from time to time? If you do get together with them, what do you like to do when you are all together?1 person likes this
15 responses
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
13 Jan 13
hi dear dorannmwin I am glad to read you had such a great time with your extended family.
Its a bit different with me here. After what had happened when my mother needed help and care in her last almost two years of her life and how the extended family treated me I have broken off contact almost entirely. Only these expected cards for Christmas and birthdays and saints days and thats it. No desire whatso ever to talk to them let alone meet them again in my life.
But its different with meeting my sis in law plus family. I enjoy meeting them and we just have fun time with each other, eating drinking making jokes and chatting.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
16 Jan 13
Breaking free from the dysfunctional family I grew up in was more than overdue. Sounds silly but my own life started with 49 years old and I will be 51 in a few weeks. Life has never felt that good before and I never would have said life is great, good, beautiful etc. but I say this now a lot.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Jan 13
Although I am lucky that I didn't grow up in a dysfunctional family, I do know what you mean as I do have several friends that grew up in families that were very dysfunctional.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
7 Jan 13
I do, but seeing as I've moved away, I don't see most of them too often.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I do believe that distance is one of the major things that does come between our families as we get older and move away from the places that we originally lived.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
7 Jan 13
We had a weekend in Nov. where the gal cousins on my dad's side got together for a weekend at my sisters house. We had a blast. It had been a while since I had seen some of them. We played games and shopped and ate lots of great food! I really enjoyed the weekend as everyone did!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
That sounds like something that would be a lot of fun. I might have to run something like this by my female cousins and see if there was a way that we would be able to do something like that. We all like to shop and to eat so I believe that we would have a great time doing this.
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
7 Jan 13
yes, i do!
gatherings are always fun with siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces..
i always prepare something to eat for them and because it's usually Christmas where the gatherings happen, there will be games and exchange gifts!
gatherings are always fun with siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces..
i always prepare something to eat for them and because it's usually Christmas where the gatherings happen, there will be games and exchange gifts!
@ardoy0731 (7308)
• Philippines
7 Jan 13
I always grab the chance every time I have. I always enjoy my bonding time with my extended family. Usually with my cousin are eating, going out, malling or just hanging out in the house. Sometimes with some of our aunts. We used to be in our grandma's house in my father side during Saturday night with other relatives.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
That is pretty much the way that it was when I was growing up. We always spent a lot of time at either of my grandparent's houses and that is the reason that I am as close to my cousins today as I am. Now we all have lives of our own and have fewer opportunities to spend time together so I really do value it when I have those opportunities.
@dee777 (1417)
• South Africa
7 Jan 13
The last 'get together' was one I organised some five years ago... I feel bad now and think I will have to do it again. It is important for the younger ones as well to meet the far-off cousins. Well done to you.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
With the other side of my family, we tend to have some kind of get togethers at least once a year and several times more often than that. I wish that I could arrange something bigger like that with this side of the family but there are really not all that many of us and there were also so problems in the family that alienated some people years ago. It is a shame really, but I also don't really feel like there is any way to fix it.
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
7 Jan 13
I love to hear from some of my extended family and friends that don`t live so near. There are people that belong to our lives, yet either live far away or, for reasons of work we don`t see so much. So it is a double pleasure when we can catch up. And so many times we even make plans to see each other a bit more.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I honestly didn't think about the fact that it had been so long since I've seen them until I saw Matty. Seeing how much he has grown really illustrated to me that it has been far too long. If I only learned one thing from all of this, I have realized that I should never let that much time pass before I see them again.
@Iriene88 (5343)
• Malaysia
7 Jan 13
I love to do some catch up once in a while in a smaller group.
However, I only got to see them during Chinese New Year or
some relative's weddings. That is the time we update our 'status'
as to who is where ...so on so forth.
Just as you mentioned, most of my cousins' children are big
and some even working already. Time passes by so fast!
Just as you mentioned, most of my cousins' children are big
and some even working already. Time passes by so fast!@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
Here is something that is going to be very sad for me to admit. I have a cousin that lives only a little bit over an hour away from us and I've not seen her since I was in college (2000). Now her two children are grown, her daughter is in pharmacy school and her son just recently had his first baby and I've not seen her in many, many years. I really should try to make plans to at least see Shannon soon.
@bounce58 (17385)
• Canada
7 Jan 13
I've been living half way around the world from my hometown for almost 10 years. This past Christmas, we actually went home and I had the chance to see some of my 'extended' relatives. Although I couldn't honestly say that I miss any of them with my normal, everyday life, I actually had fun spending a little bit of time with them. It made me remember my roots, and understand a little bit the kind of person that I am.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to live so far away from my family but I know that there are a lot of people that do that. My husband grew up living far away from family and it just amazes me to see that he isn't really close at all to any of his cousins.
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
7 Jan 13
It has been a really long time since I have seen my cousins. The last time I saw them was in 2002 when my cousin got married (he is now divorced). I am hoping to get back to Massachusetts this summer, but I may not be able to because Randy has his class reunion in August. I am also not working and money has been tight. With a tough economy I am hoping that I will be able to sell my crafts online and make extra money that way so I can afford both trips. We are driving to Idaho in August and if we do go to Massachusetts we would have to fly and then rent a car.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
Distance is definitely one of the things that does make it quite impossible for me to be able to see some of my cousins as often as I would like to. Well, I do have some cousins that I haven't been able to see since Paul was just a baby and he is now six years old. These are my cousins that live in Arizona. To go and see them or for them to come and see us mostly requires a flight and for four people, that is something that is really expensive.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
7 Jan 13
I am closer with my cousins from my mom's side. Coz since we were kids, they would be spending few days ether during summer vacation or just a few days before Christmas. They live in a province and so they come to the city to buy their Christmas presents. Now that we are all grown up, married and have kids, we really seldom have the time to be together. The last time we saw one another was 2 years ago. It was the wedding of one of my cousins. Usually, when we get together when we were older, we would be going to bars and stay until the wee hours.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
For me, I would have to say that I was evenly close to my cousins on my mother's side as I was to my cousin's on my father's side. You see whenever we went to visit when I was younger, I would spend half my time with my mother's side of the family and half my time with my father's side of the family.
Of course, I can also think of a lot of times that we were all together. For example, when we went to the amusement park during the summer, my parents would take a lot of cousins from both sides of the family with us.
@natliegleb (5175)
• India
7 Jan 13
Its great time to catch up with cousins and share and spend more quality time together and most importantly enjoy the awesome brunch for sure and the service too is quite fast
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
Oh, the service at the restaurant that we decided to go to was pretty good, but there was still something left to be desired. For example, Jo asked for a go cup for their ride home and she waited for over 30 minutes and never did get her soda.
That's okay though because we did have a chance to catch up with each other.
@ladyhemingway (965)
• Philippines
7 Jan 13
Hi dorannmwin, it's good to know that you had a great time catching up with your relatives. Mini reunion like that are some of the simple pleasures in life, I must say. I also get too excited at the thought of catching up with my cousins whom I have not met for a long time. And since most of us love food, every reunion calls for a lot of cooking and preparing delicious dishes for everyone to enjoy.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
You are definitely right, food is always something that is mandatory when you are getting together with family. In most situations it is family favorites that we will enjoy but in this case it was a restaurant that we all really like.
@skyandgrassplot (1497)
• China
7 Jan 13
Yes I always enjoy getting together with my extended family and really feel happy,usually we get together we will go to the KTV and sing some songs then we will drink some tea and eat some snacks and have a long talk,the KTV always will be our first choice.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I would love to be able to go out with my cousins and have fun with them the way that we used to before the majority of us were parents. However, that isn't really something that we are able to do right now. In the future, I know that this will again be a possibility.
@ZoeJoy (1392)
• United States
7 Jan 13
Yes, I do enjoy getting together with extended family, even though we don't live so close. We do keep in touch on Facebook and have a family group where we post family photos. It's a great way to keep in touch, even when we are apart.
We do appreciate that we are family, even though we all have different view points and opinions on many different issues. Just to be family is important and is greatly valued in my family.
Glad that you were able to spend some time with your cousins.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Jan 13
That is similar to the way that it is for our family. We don't really live too close together and that is the reason that we don't get to see each other all the time. It is a shame that distance has come between us, but I hope to never allow that to happen again.
