Across the Miles

[jaye]

I grew up without cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Big family get-togethers were a foreign concept to me as it was just the four of us.

My parents came to Canada from England, and my dad's two sisters went to live in Zimbabwe, whilst his younger brother and parents stayed in England. My mom's family is also in England. I met my grandparents a few times but didn't meet three of my cousins until 1993 at my grandmother's funeral. That was the last time I was in England until this summer. I was not only there on vacation but also to attend my aunt's funeral (it was supposed to be her 95th birthday but she passed away before). I was able to meet up with my cousins again, the two youngest now adults.

Fast forward to this morning. I received a WhatsApp message from my cousin with a picture of her brother and his family (they live in Australia) and a video of him saying hello. I have never met him, it brought me to tears. I have finally "met" all my cousins, there are only 6 of us.

If only my bank account would allow me to travel more....England, Germany, Australia.

[aussiegirl]

I'm sorry you are not able to all get together, but thankful your cousin was able to message you for you to "meet"! Family is so important, and even though it's hard for you to get together or meet them in person, they are still family!

Maybe you should do a page with a map/globe and little tabs at the areas of where your family lives. It can be family across the miles page! Then you could send it to each of them when finished, and you can use it to remember each other!

[Cheryl Ashcraft]

Oh, I hope you are able to meet in person!

I'm so grateful for the internet and how we are able to make these types of connections, but I'll be praying that somehow, some way, you are able to meet each other in person!

[nietis]

Oh Jaye, I hope you will meet in person one day.

I am so so thankful for Internet & technologies these days. My youngest brother & sister live in Toronto, my parents and my first younger brother live in Indonesia. Without Internet, it would be impossible to have almost daily communication with them. I'd be so lost.

[tjscraps]

That would be so cool if you got to meet in person! I grew up with a number of aunts, uncles and cousins but my girls only have 3 cousins - all boys. One lives 3,000 km away and we've seen him about every other year (now he's an adult that will be less I'm guessing). On the other side there were no cousins until my oldest was 8. My youngest has had her 2 cousins around so a bit of a different experience but they live 8 hours away (by car) so it's only a couple times a year - and now that they're 7,8,9 years old (mine in the middle) they don't have a ton in common.

[jaye]

That would be so cool if you got to meet in person! I grew up with a number of aunts, uncles and cousins but my girls only have 3 cousins - all boys. One lives 3,000 km away and we've seen him about every other year (now he's an adult that will be less I'm guessing). On the other side there were no cousins until my oldest was 8. My youngest has had her 2 cousins around so a bit of a different experience but they live 8 hours away (by car) so it's only a couple times a year - and now that they're 7,8,9 years old (mine in the middle) they don't have a ton in common.

Braeden has 5 cousins on his dad's side and 2 cousins on my side. The two on my side are girls and five years younger than him, so nothing in common and they only live 30 minutes from us. His two male cousins live in the U.S., one in Florida and the other in Michigan. He talks to the one in Michigan daily and they visit when work schedules allow, he visited the one in Florida in November. Of the 3 female cousins on his dad's side, two are quite a bit older, married with children, and the other one is the same age as him and they are quite close. They were only an hour away from each other in college and used to hang out often. When Braeden went to Florida, Taylor went with him. He has had the benefit of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents for which I am grateful.

I was happy that I got to 'see' him, I feel like all is complete as I have 'met' every member of my small and spread out family. :wub:

[LynnZant]

How awesome that you got to "meet" everyone now. Keep those travel dreams alive.