FAMILY

OK...I started out trying to find something today. That lead me to opening box after box, looking inside every room, every closet, even the garage. I was able to find a few things that I wasn't looking for however.

I found Halloween decorations in the garage and labeled them so that when October rolls around I will be able to just head to the garage and look for the box clearly marked "Halloween". There! That was easy. It only took me hours and hours. And what was I searching for in the first place? Oh yeah...a couple of rocks. Special rocks however. Some crystals, both quartz and amethyst. A malachite too. But, after all the looking I still have not put my fingers on them. They are being really elusive. For some reason, I am not meant to find them right now. They will appear when the time is right though. I know this to be true of other things that "go missing".

But, the search did uncover this photo. That is my sister on the left, me on the right, and we're sandwiching my two boy cousins in the middle. I still remember when that was taken. We were sitting in my Aunt's living room. We were there for a visit. The date was March 20, 1958. I was 8 years old. (Well, not exactly...I would turn 8 in April).

Check out those hair-dos! Do you think our bangs could have been any shorter? And my cousin's hair: flat top! Remember flat tops? And Brylcreem to spike it up?

"Brylcreem..a little dab'll do ya. Brylcreem... you'll look so debonair. Brylcreem...the gals will all pursue ya...they'll love to get their fingers in your hair".

Boy...talk about a flash-back. Am I the only one that remembers jingles from TV commercials? They were so catchy in the 50's.

Anyway...it brings back memories that I have of my cousins. My father had just died a few months before this (the end of 1957). Kids are so resilient, aren't they! We look like we were fine. Were we? I'm not sure. Today, when I look back to that time, I think if it was to happen to a child in this day and age, the child would be seeing a therapist. Not so for us. We just put one foot in front of the other and acted like everything was the same. And in many ways, it still was.

We still had family to spend time with. We still had each other. And we had childhood. Thank god for childhood. Things happen so quickly, you barely have time to notice. You're at school. You're at home playing outside. You're thinking about boys (oh those childhood crushes...they were so real, weren't they!)

I sent a copy of this to my cousin tonight. He is 59 now. Has two boys of his own now. I think he is a long way away from becoming a grandfather. His father is no longer living either. But, fortunately for him, he had him most of his life. I didn't know at the time that I really missed my father. It was not until I became a mother that I realized how much a father really means to a child.

Thank god I had some cousins to share my childhood with. I learned to ride a "two-wheeler" at this cousin's house. I played up in the attic with the train set at this cousin's house. We had Thanksgiving dinner here, we played 33's on the record player, we made memories. Thank god I don't have those bangs though! Or those giant teeth!