Breakfast WIth Some Cousins--Renee, April, and Michelle....

Meaningless names to you unless you are related to my nuclear family.  These are three of my Gibson cousins.  We gathered for breakfast in Beaverton at the Brown Bear Diner.  I think the food was good, but I really don't remember that.  I just remember watching, talking, and listening to my cousins and thinking how lucky I was to be related to such sweet women.  I thought how happy my mom and my aunt would be to know that we were here together.  I wanted all my siblings and all my cousins to be there.  It was a good moment and one that I want to have again.  For while places might only be visited once in a lifetime,--PEOPLE and FAMILY--they are worth visits over and over again.

Michelle, April, Renee, and me

We shared some memories--some good, some hard.  They cared for our grandmother as she dealt with Parkinson and dementia in her last years of life while we were far away in Texas.  Our cousins have often said that they were glad that we didn't have to have those memories of Grandma--I think that reflects the view of their parents who were my mom's older siblings.  My mom had said that Lois and Bob did not tell her much of what was happening with Grandma until close to the end, because she was their little sister.

Modern day box in our pantry for Gary

Renee shared a story that really touched me.  She said, "I remember that you didn't like cereal because you didn't like soggy food.  I used to worry when you stayed with us because you won't eat breakfast very often, not even eggs.  (Sidenote:  As she said this, I remember once Aunt Lois serving eggs and they were not scrambled in the way my mom did them.  They were "wetter." so I imagine it was true that I didn't eat them.).  She said, one time when you were coming to stay, I asked mom to get you some Captain Crunch because the commercial said they didn't get soggy in milk, but of course, you didn't eat them either."  As a therapist I tell parents that it is important for their children to know that "they hold them in mind when they are not together."  I was stuck by the power of that as I heard Renee share this memory.  Renee is one of the cousins which I was closest to in age.  At her house, she was the one that I mostly played with although she is slightly younger than I am.  It amazed me that she could 1- still remember that after all these years when we have had very infrequent contact and 2-as a child, she worried about me not eating breakfast and tried to fix it.  She held me in mind and in her heart then and now.

That is what our mothers taught us!!  Cousins are something special and I can't wait until the next time we can be together--shooting for the Owen Family Reunion in 2020.  All Gibersons and Hall children and grandchildren are invited!!!

And then we were on the road again...heading home with some stops along the way......