In the year of our cousins

Two notes came yesterday, regarding cousin get-togethers---one in Spokane/Sandpoint; the other, in Chicago. I'm hoping to attend both.

There's the Brown family group, who hailed from Chicago/Wisconsin a long time back. That's my real father's side. This group, planning to get together, consists of all the female first cousins----sorry guys, you'll have to plan your own. These female first cousins have been meeting at different venues off and on for a number of years, but I've never been able to attend the gatherings.

Well, they were smart this year; they scheduled for Spokane where our cousin Laureen lives. So, I piped up and said they ought to spend one day in Sandpoint. And, that's what they're gonna do. That will happen in August when Sandpoint fills up with folks from all over cuz summer time in Sandpoint is the best.

They'll be here at Festival time, so we'll have to see who's on the docket that night. Maybe we'll go. I have one cousin who likes the stores in Sandpoint, so I know she won't be having any trouble filling up her time. Plus, she likes Kiwi, so she can enjoy an added benefit of reconnecting with the dog who slept on her bed every night during her last visit

I'm looking forward to this reunion, and I've told Bill to get the grill ready to go cuz we're gonna have a barbecue. I have a feeling it might get a little noisy at the Lovestead, so I'll have to alert the neighbors.

The other cousin gathering includes my mother's side of the family, and it's scheduled for Chicago in mid-May. The reunion centers around Bud's 90th birthday. He's my mother's first cousin, and the two have a lot in common, including six kids--three boys and three girls, all in somewhat the same age frame.

So, some of us are hoping to get there and to take our mother with us. We got word yesterday that there is a possibility of going to a Cubs-Astros game while we're there. I can't think of anything more thrilling except the experience of getting to know these folks a little better. We've met some of them but not all of them.

My mother has fond memories of her cousin Bud, and the two have enjoyed reconnecting with each other after a 50-plus year break from 1945-the mid-'90s. That reconnection occurred one day after I had requested a death certificate for my mother's mother Lily Short Halter, who died while the family was living in Wallace in 1924.

I thought information on the death certificate would add a little tidbit or two of family history that had up to that day been pretty sparse because Lily died when Mother was 3, and her husband Frank (Mother's father) died when our mother was 15. Mother knew a lot about certain parts of the family but not much about other branches.

When the certificate arrived in the mail, I immediately took it to Foster's Crossing where Mother was working in a craft shop at the time. I showed it to her, and her delight at seeing something connected with the mother she never really knew was tangible. Then, she said, "Now, I wish I could talk with Bud."

I had no idea who Bud was, but I knew an hour or so later after going home and calling up Aspells in Chicago. First, I talked to Bud's son Rich, who gave me his dad's phone number. I dialed the number. Bud answered.

I told him I was Virginia Halter's daughter, and he calmly replied, "Oh, Virginia, she moved out to Idaho to have a horse farm in 1945---howz she doing?"

Well, an hour or so after that, Mother was on the phone talking to her cousin, and since then, reams of family history have unraveled. We've also met and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know other branches of that Chicago connection. Still, there's much more to learn and experience.

On both cousins' fronts, I'm hoping to put a lot of missing family puzzle pieces together; more than anything, however, I'm looking forward to getting to know all of these cousins better and to appreciate our differences, similarities and especially the blood bonds that we all share.

Should be a good year for cousins-----and for family legacies.