MAE JULIAN
Dear Readers,
My mom and dad raised seven kids. All seven of us had two to four children. Most had two. My siblings and I have often lamented the fact that we grew up in such a large family, but that none of our kids or grandkids got that chance. Well, how wrong we were. It seems that all the cousins have managed to make their own big family, which takes the place of lots of siblings, only probably better, because they are not only cousins, but friends.
This picture was taken this week of some of the cousins. They are gone so many hours of the day that it is like when we were kids in Waynedale. They leave after breakfast and only come in to eat. Sometimes it crosses my mind as to whether I should be worried about them, but then I ask myself…who would take on a bunch of kids like that???? They are a pleasure to watch and to listen to. I have to admit that in bringing them back from somewhere, in the car, yesterday, I hardly understood a word they said. Oh, I understood the words, but I didn’t understand what they meant. It all seemed to be a confusion of words to do with their skate boards, and bikes and racing and doing things I’ve never heard of. The only word I really understood well was “dude” . They intersperse “dude” the way we used to intersperse “kid” when we were teenagers. I thought that it would not be right if I did not share this gang of kids with you, and it reminds me of the picture that our parents took of us on our bikes when we were young. They are all so young, so healthy, so much on the brink of adulthood, that you can’t help but wonder what they will all become. I think the first wish is that they all survive! They are all second cousins. The children of our children. I think that their children will be tight with their cousins too. It is a blessing to be sure. We are all going to the big family reunion in Jewett, Ill. this weekend. They will all reacquaint themselves with all the cousins that they only see once a year at the reunion. The family reunion counts at least 150 relatives. Many of them kids. I realize that I am now an old fogey, and that there are only two of the original twelve siblings left. My mother is one. Her brother has recently been admitted to a nursing home, and is no longer sound.
It makes you so aware of the passage of time and how quickly it vanishes. But for these kids, so on the brink of the rest of their lives, growing into adulthood, old age is a million years away. Just as it should be. Bless these children, and bless all of your children. And grandchildren….and great grandchildren. And if Mom hangs on to her healthiness, she will eventually be a great-great grandmother.
Lulu was asking me about death, and who dies first, and I explained to her the progression of who is SUPPOSED to die first, and that meant she would be the last to die if everything went as nature intended. She thought about this awhile, and then said, “but by then, I’ll have kids and I won’t be last anymore.” Yep, I thought. Truer words were never spoken. So it goes generation after generation. Be sure and listen to the kids even if, as I, you don’t understand anything but “dude’!
Love,
Mae Julian
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