I love my brothers and sisters, but when I think of family, it is much more. It was indeed a blessing to grow up in a small community filled with extended family. Aunts and uncles and cousins are an important part of my family. Cousins were playmates and the adults in the family were important role models for me.
I especially loved the times that we would gather as extended family at special times. There were Thanksgiving dinners and trips to the mountains when we divided up and went with our peers to play and to catch up with those who had moved away. I tired of the parade down main street each ear, but I never tired of renewing relationships with those who gathered.
It saddens me that our families have scattered and that our relationships have suffered. Seeing the photographs of those dear to me help me remember how much extended family means to me.
