BrianandLibby.com

A few weeks ago my sister’s twins and my cousin’s three kids had a big sleepover together and my sister sent me this picture.

From left, Madelyn, Alessandra, Lydia, Jacob, Isabella

These kids absolutely adore eachother. They always want to get together and hang out, and they were pretty much in their glory at this sleepover…even while brushing their teeth. Somewhere along the way they became old enough and were able to entertain eachother enough that when all us “grown ups” get together, they head down to the basement, we close the door, and everyone’s happy.

When I got this picture it made me think…when did I become the grown up who was happier to sit around a table upstairs than to run around like a banshee with my cousins? We have a big family; to some of you that may in fact be an understatement. My dad has 6 siblings, who are all married, and have between 2 and four children a piece. So that makes 21 first cousins…and we all grew up in the same city. We spent every holiday together, and I say holiday in the loosest sense of the term. We were hard core - every birthday, anniversary, Martin Luther King Day or just Sunday afternoon was a family get together.

Since the sheer manpower of these gatherings was overwhelming, we kids always ended up in the basement (which was usually unfinished). We ate our meals on a sheet on the concrete floor together (we considered ourselves lucky if it was a flat sheet, not a fitted one, that was a special occasion) but we didn’t care, we just hung out and had fun.

It’s pretty cool to see the next generation of cousins doing the same thing. Their basements may be sheetrocked and carpeted, and they might even get a folding table and chairs to eat on, but I hope someday they look back on these times the same way we do…as we sit upstairs around the kitchen table and listen to the pitter patter of their footsteps in the basement.