Cousins Weekend

As soon as the clean up was done from Nathan's birthday party and my two littlest pirates were snug in their beds, I began packing for a trip to Cedar City, Utah. I wanted to leave a note for my kids since I would be leaving on the early shuttle and there was a chance none of them would be awake. I intended it to be big enough, and in a place visible enough, for them to not miss it so I made it poster size and put it on the fridge but it took every magnet I had to hold it up.

The shuttle ride to Orem was uneventful; rather relaxing actually. I don't usually have that much time to be in my own head and it was kind of nice to just be. Once I met up with my sister, Kate, in Orem we headed towards Cedar City in her mini cooper. Those things are tiny but soooo fuel efficient! Little did we know that being so economical would lend itself to adventures in winter wonderland as the storm began. Every time someone passed us the entire vehicle was sloshed with spraying snow and slush and we had to stop 4 or 5 different times to clean the ice off the windshield wipers so that we could see. Then we would head off again, passing the same semi-truck each time. We must have looked like the epitome of blond as the poor driver of that truck witnessed each stop. He even waved at us the last time that we passed him.

We thought that we would be hiking on this trip but the weather had other plans. When we later discussed what we did for the weekend we realized that it sounded kind of anti-climatic but we really did have a great time as we bargain shopped, went with our aunt to get her ears pierced, ate, stayed up late visiting, cooked together and, again, ate. We stayed at my cousins bed and breakfast, the beautiful Henley Manor, which gave us a full kitchen for all of our meals and enough rooms/beds for us to all stay together.

Really, it was the company that made the whole trip worth it. This is a part of the family that I have only seen once a year for the past few years and before that just occasionally when we were children. What a rejuvenating boost to my spirit to spend time with distant cousins and aunts who quickly and easily became friends, almost sisters to me. It was magical to see our ages disappear. We ranged from ages 18 to the late 50's and yet we all seemed to blend into one season of womanhood. Even with our differences of single life, married life, teens, babies, husbands, sister-wives, a range of financial situations and even differences in religion, we were simply family.

Back: Me, Mary, Aunt Sylvia, Aunt Alice, Sandra

Front: Kate, Fawn holding Billie, Robyn, Sara holding Maya, Taralyce

Since then we have stayed in contact and been a support to each other through struggles and joys that have come up during the summer. I'm so grateful for my extended family and for the nudge to do a weekend like this. It certainly won't be our last.