The Truth About Cousins

I consider myself lucky to have been blessed with so many cousins.  My cousins come in many shapes and sizes and some are so interesting, talented, and intelligent, I get my tank filled whenever I am in their presence.  I don’t know if I told you this before; however, my husband, Don, is not so blessed.  Believe it or not, both his biological parents were only children.  He has no cousins, aunts and uncles.  I can’t even imagine what that would be like.  Don has thoroughly enjoyed meeting my cousins, aunts and uncles.  I am closer to my cousins on my mother’s side.  When Don met my family on my father’s side, he defined them as average.  What an astute synopsis. However, my cousins on my father’s and mother’s sides have shaped who I am today. 

When I was a child I would explore the workings of the world with both sides of my family of origin.  I was a curious child, who loved to explore, read and play games.  I listened intently to see what I could grasp and carry into adulthood.  I would play endlessly with hula hoops with my cousins.  I was able to make the hula hoop go up to my neck and back down to my waist.  Now I am lucky to get the hula hoop to go around my waist one time.  They say our bodies have memories and will recall things that you did as a child and pick it up again.  That is not the case with hula hoops for me.

I remember exploring the hill behind my cousins’ house in Munising.  It appeared to be such a big hill.  We would sneak up the hill and hide on one another.  Munising was considered to be a very safe town so my cousins and I would walk to town and gaze in the windows. I lived about two miles from downtown so walking downtown was not permitted. My uncle was a barber and managed somehow to feed his family quite well.  But spare money to give to his children for spending freely was not an option. There were nine cousins in this family.  Bread making days were also pancake days.  I would be served a pancake that filled a big round plate.  My eyes would be as big as saucers.  The rule back in those days was you had to clean your plate, and I was this scrawny kid. 

I still get to see my cousins quite frequently. Around and during the 4^th of July we visited Munising. This is an annual tradition for us.  Munising celebrates the 4^th with a bang.  The town’s pride in our country’s heritage is evident. We, meaning Don and I, love having an ice cream treat or treats.  That is a wonderful used and new book store with some souvenirs, deli foods and ice cream.  There is a main room with a variety of mismatched chairs and tables that add to its charm.  It is my understanding that they hold a lot of community events at this place.  We make it a point to visit this delightful store and deli. 

I found some of the second hand stores in Munising.  Most women love the hunt of finding the best deals.  The Salvation Army store was having a 75% off sale.  We also found this unique second hand shop painted in the brightest colors and designs.  These women enjoyed displaying their artful talents.  I found a Thomas Kinkaid book of his Christmas art.  I love meeting new people and we, meaning the owners of the shop and I, engaged in a discussion about their artwork. 

Back to my cousins, my cousin Marnie Kate has a wonderful eye for preparing things for her home.  She turned an old door with windows sideways and painted the bold stars and stripes on it.  She is into nautical things and loves the color blue. She loves the water and her three children swim like fish like her.  I made her an afghan with solid blue, white and with various blue yarns to go with her nautical theme. 

We, meaning Don, her husband David and I, were walking from her home to the downtown area of Munising and came across a Mason building.  That circumstance led to a lengthy conversation about the Masons.  Don is usually amazed at the topics we engage in, my cousins and I.  I told her that my father could not become a Mason like his father because my mother was a Catholic.  When I watched a documentary on the History Channel about the Masons, it was portrayed that the Masons were nondenominational.  Marnie Kate informed me that one of the final steps before a person could be sworn in as a full fledge Mason, was they had to denounce Jesus as the Savior.  In St. Ignace, Michigan back in the 50s and 60s being a member of the Masons helped you to secure a more prominent employment position in the town.  I recommend the book “Captains and the Kings” by Taylor Caldwell.  That book depicts the dangerous games people play to rise to the top of the ladder and how lonely it can be to place more importance on power and control than on your relationships with others. My cousins and I will hold conversations into the wee hours of the morning about many things that most people don’t talk about. 

My cousin Melissa stayed at our home for a couple of nights in July of this year.  We decided to be tourists in our own community and we took my cousins to explore the sites of Sault Ste. Marie.  First we walked around the Sault Locks Park and had hand dipped ice cream from the shop at the Haunted Depot.  We looked at Halloween costumes because we are going to be participating in a Pirate cruise for FOCAS (Friends of Caring Animal Shelters). It was a little late in the evening so we couldn’t visit the visitors’ center for the Sault Locks.  There’s always tomorrow.  At least I want to believe there is.  Perhaps I should be living life like this is the last day of my life.  I may be a little less negative if I did so and make the best of each and every day.

The next day after staying up until almost 3:00 in the morning, we decided to explore the Sault more.  First, we had to accomplish what she set out to do when she visited my home, which was to provide me with a Mary Kay presentation.  I was given a facial.  I like those products.  The roughness of my elbows disappeared.  I purchased some foundation and cover up. 

My husband came home from work and we were off.  We stopped at a street corner on 3 Mile Road to show them a bird’s nest of a very large bird and we decided it was an Osprey. My cousin had this camera with the function of zooming in and took a picture of the bird.  It was like the bird was only a few yards from us; however the bird was quite a distance from the car.  We have an Osprey that builds a nest on a tower at the end of our road each year.  We also have a mother Robin who builds a nest every year under our front deck.  I love watching birds and so do my cousins. 

I planned on treating my cousins to Valley Camp, a ship that was docked and turned into a museum.  The museum features an exhibit of the Edmund Fitzgerald that broke in two during the year of 1975 in the stormy waters of Lake Superior.  Lake Superior because of its depth, coldness, and size is known to never give up its dead.  The museum covered information about the Great Lakes and other noteworthy information about ships.  Melissa, David and I decided to partake in a scavenger hunt that was provided by the museum.  I discovered that we were both highly competitive.  It was fun to try to find out all the answers. 

Before we went to the museum, we ate at the infamous Clyde’s Drive In.  We ordered our food and ate it outside at one of the picnic tables.  It was a very warm day so we sat near a tree to gain its shade.  We discovered that this Clyde’s Restaurant was opened during the 1950s.  The building I think is the same with very few changes.  You can usually tell when a building hasn’t been revised too much and depicts the times it originated. 

After visiting the Valley Camp, we went to the Sault Locks Park and explored the visitor’s center.  Melissa was amazed to find a canoe constructed by our Uncle Ron.  She called her mother, my aunt, to tell her about it and took a picture with her phone. He is known to have constructed a lot of memorabilia from the Ojibwe people’s history.  He constructed a long house and canoe for the Ojibwe museum in St. Ignace.  The glory of having aunts and uncles is revisited. 

I insisted that we go to the Bayliss Library to watch a video entitled “The Twenty” and we did.  Supposedly the movie was filmed in Sault area.  We were 15 minutes late because I thought the movie was going to be shown at 7:00; but it started at 6:30p.m.  We had to catch the beginning of the movie after we returned home after we borrowed it from the library.  It was reserved for me because I beat everyone else.  Since then we purchased the video. Our daughters have shown an interest in seeing the movie also.

The movie was about someone finding a twenty dollar bill with a message on it and the main actor’s goal was to find out about the message that was associated with the Sault.  The main actor and writer of the movie was at the library and met with the audience afterwards to answer any questions.  He appeared to be such a real person, very down to earth. 

After my Cousin Melissa’s visit to our town and our home I was reminded about how much I have in common with many of my cousins.  I was also reminded of the importance of the connection we feel towards each other.  Family can prove to be very necessary when exploring and maintaining a healthy balance in our lives.