SECOND HALF: COUSINS CONVERGING

Brett and I spent last week in Santa Fe with a group of his family. The event was called "cousins converging". Don't you just love the title it says it all. My husband actually gets kudos, and was a great sport for going on this trip. First of all he flew to Albuquerque, and drove to Santa Fe with his wife, his mother, and his sister. He stayed the weekend in a hotel room with his sister and I. And he was only one of two guys brave enough to spend the weekend with 11 female family members. I think by the end of the weekend he had probably had his fill of estrogen.

The weekend was a lot of fun. Thank you Donna Jean for doing all of the organizing and logistics. First of all Santa Fe was beautiful. For some reason I had it in my head it was going to be burning hot. What was I thinking especially coming from Marion which had record breaking three digit temperatures the whole week before we left. The weather was perfect low 80's for a high, and 50's at night. In fact in the evenings we were wrapped up in blankets outside. The sky was a perfect bright blue with those fluffy, cotton ball white clouds. You know the kind, that make you wish you could lie down and take a nap on them.

The company was wonderful. Some of these women I have known for a long time. Tory and I have been friends since fifth grade, and Brett and I have been married 32 years, so I had crossed paths with most of them at some point and time. There were a few that I met for the first time.

So, what do 11 women and 2 men do when they get together? Well since it was mostly women the two most common things, eat and talk and talk and talk. It was so much fun to sit and listen to family stories. Stories about all these cousins when they were little, stories about aunts, and uncles and grandparents some who are no longer with us. It was really fun when they would start a story out with Mom I don't know if you ever knew this or not but one time.......... We spend a couple of afternoons going into town to the plaza and walking around all the neat shops, checking out the restaurants. But for the most part we spent our time sitting around this big umbrella table outside in the shade of a big tree. And it was wonderful.

There is one thing I have come to realize recently in my own family. That cousins are cousins forever. No matter how long it has been since you have seen each other, or spent time together you reconnect instantly. That is because you share a past, a history, a legacy. No matter what kind of family you had, you share it. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the broken. It is a link you have that no one can take away. What binds you together are those memories, those stories, they are yours and they can't be taken from you. Weekends like this are great for renewing that.

So, thank you Tipsword's for letting me be a part of your family, a "hanger-on" and share the weekend. For letting me hear the stories of all the wonderful, beautiful, strong women who molded and shaped you. I wish Brittany could have been there to hear them, to appreciate the legacy of women she comes from. Deuteronomy 5:10 says "But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands". May God lavish His love on you for a thousand generations.