Have you ever seen a baby so clearly thinking deep thoughts? No, nor have I. I’ve only spent a week with my second grand-daughter, and already I am eager for more visits. In the meantime, FaceTime is better than nothing.
Zoraya in her vintage shirt and her new best friend.
When I was born, I was one of several dozen children of my generation on my mother’s side (My mother was one of the youngest of 12 siblings who reached adulthood.) I had cousins who were adults before I was born and a few who I remember as infants. Most lived within a few miles of my home, one was virtually next door, and none was more than a couple of states away. I was close friends with two of these cousins and acquainted with most of the rest. I had cousins on my father’s side, too, a more reasonable number and a smaller age range. Together, a family network that I took for granted.
I don’t think about it often, but some memories produce their own deep thoughts about how that shaped my early days. “There were frequent cousin sleepovers and occasional longer shared vacations.
I hope that Zoraya and Aloisa develop their own friendships to rival the easy, automatic way I knew my cousins. In hindsight, I had a bigger family than I realized:
“Cousins may not be siblings, but they are family just the same.”