Having left the area at a young age and being single much of my adult life, I missed decades of family get-togethers. Well, not anymore! Now that I am back in the area I have had the opportunity to reconnect with my cousins, many of whom I enjoyed fun times and holidays with during our growing up years. I have had a plethora of such get-togethers over the past several weeks which gave me a reason to deck the halls with red, white and blue. It started with a 4th of July Potluck at our house with farmer oriented cousins on my father’s side of the family. Though it was a small group and fairly low key, it allowed for nice conversations about current interests and activities. I also learned about grape salad and corn and spaghetti casserole which were both new to me and I sure do like that calico baked bean dish with ground beef that you see at a lot of potluck events here in the Midwest.
Next were visitors who were in the area attending the Rosen School Reunion which is the area where my mother (an Adelman) grew up. Although both of these women are historical friends, they are also second and third cousins respectively which we discovered when/after we became friends in our late teen years. Given our similarities they are more like sisters to me and thus, I feel connected to their siblings and children as well. I feel blessed to have stayed connected with these friends over the decades and love spending more time with them now that I live at the lake during the summer/fall.
This past weekend we attended the 50th Wedding Anniversary Party of a cousin on my mom’s side of the family. I actually attended this cousin’s wedding as a young teenager and enjoyed looking through the picture book seeing the faces of all my young cousins who were in the wedding. The anniversary party was held in the garage of a beautiful new home in ranch country south of South Shore where wind turbines have become prevalent. This allowed for plenty of discussion surrounding the turbines; one of my cousins, an area rancher, hates them with a vengeance and I can’t blame him although, I love watching them as we drive through the area. It was a beautiful late afternoon after a wonderful rainfall on a lovely farm with the little ones running around the property as the adults formed and reformed small groups having lively conversations about all manner of things. It all seemed like nirvana to me!
One of the anniversary couple’s son’s is an agronomist and I always love talking to him about his work at a large area farm. I found out later in the evening that one of the older guys in this conversation was my Dad’s first cousin making him my first cousin once removed. I enjoyed reintroducing myself to him as a Roggenbuck relative. Another of the anniversary couple’s son’s is a chef at a country club in Lincoln, Nebraska so he catered the event. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed gourmet food the likes of which you couldn’t find in a 100 mile plus radius. My girl cousins at this event (most of who live in Mpls.) choose an August weekend to spend at the lake with us that I am looking forward to and hope becomes an annual tradition. Maybe I can get my sisters to fly in for the event next year? Paul invited one of these cousins and her husband to spend the remainder of the weekend with us so we were able to get further acquainted and reacquainted with them while also celebrating her birthday. As a chef and baker, she and Paul had a great time in his garage bakery discussing all things bread; like he did with another cousin the week prior that also makes and sells bread and rolls in her Wheaton, MN market. Anyway, you get the drift; cousins are us this month and I am loving it!