Cousin Connection

A few years ago, I decided that I needed to make a trip to Mississippi to re-connect with, and/or visit for the last time, all family members I could locate, though they are few, at this point.  I have two very elderly uncles in poor health there. One was my father's brother, and the other, my mother's brother.   I wanted to see them again, not knowing what the situation might be later.  I had a family dinner gathering with cousins on my father's side of the family.

Somewhere along the way,  I was contacted by a first cousin on my mother's side, the Yarbrough clan.   For whatever reason,  (perhaps since the parents died so early)  the siblings in that family did not visit very much in my recollection as a child.  Anyway,  Cousin Joyce now lives in Baton Rouge.  I told her I was making that trip, and she suggested meeting somewhere in between,  which we did.  We had a lovely visit in Jackson, Mississippi.  I probably had not seen her since I was preteen.

So this time,  when Joyce and her husband were making a trip to Ohio to visit their son,  She contacted me and suggested we meet somewhere in between.   Since they come from the bayou, they were very fearful of driving in anything that slightly resembled snow.

The day we planned to meet, it was 45 degrees, so you can't get much better than that on the first day of February!

Our destination was Erie, Pennsylvania.  It was a four and a half hour drive for us, (one way) and a two and a half drive for them,  at our suggestion, given their fear of winter driving.  Monday, we drove 520 miles in one day and had a nice lunch with Cousin Joyce and her husband Richard.

It was an exhausting day,  but I thought important, since I do not have very many cousins.

I do have some, but I do not know where they are!  On my father's side at least, ours was a family that scattered all over the United States.   I do not think that is so unusual for my generation, who grew up in the 1960's.