Family

Liz, my brother John, my Aunt, my mom, me and Damien

When I was a little girl, we spent a large amount of time with my mom's sister and her family.  They lived two and a half hours away in NY but would come for weeks at a time, Christmas or during the summer, and my cousins would stay at my grandparents' house.  So would I.  It was the time of year that I looked forward to each and every year.  Everything else seemed to stop and I would eat, sleep and breathe our time together.  

As we got older, we all drifted apart.  It's not that the love and fondness was no longer there, it's that there was so much else there too, the daily life stuff, so those weeks of endless play and carefreeness had to end.  

Now as adults, we are all starting our own lives.  We are getting married and having babies and those times have ended altogether.  My grandparents have passed away, their house sold.  Christmas and summer breaks are filled with our new families, our new responsibilities.  My brothers both live over two hours away.  My cousins live from Pennsylvania, to Nebraska to California.  Getting together like we used to just isn't an option anymore.

We do see each other occasionally and I am very fond of these times as well.   My cousin recently got married down in Florida and we couldn't make the wedding.  Last weekend, we had a wedding celebration for them around here.  Family came together that hadn't all been together in quite some time.  Unfortunately, one of my brothers and my other two cousins couldn't make it but it was nice to see the beautiful bride and groom.  

Here are a few shots from that day.  We didn't take these pictures.  We spent the time living them.  We ate, drank and enjoyed each other.  Our family.  Old and new.

the bride, groom and my Uncle

My cousin and his niece