Cousins - #SOLSC Day 6

I love March, when during the Slice of Life Challenge, I commit to writing on a daily basis. It's fun during 31 days of posts to watch the ebb and flow of my writing. Some days I'll be incredibly pleased with how a post turned out; other days I'll just be glad I posted anything at all. A huge thanks to the gang at Two Writing Teachers for hosting, organizing, and commenting on this ginormous event each year. I appreciate the community of writers you encourage the entire month of March, and all the Tuesdays the rest of the year. Thank you, thank you.

**This March, I plan to connect as many posts as possible to my #OLW for the year - SAVOR.**

Wanda would have been so happy.

Wanda is my mom, and she died a little over two years ago. Family meant everything to her, and she worked hard at passing that love of family along to my brother and me.

Mom came from a family of eleven brothers and sisters. They didn't have many material things, but they always had each other. The eleven has now been whittled down to three - two sisters and one brother remain, but the memories of the love in our family will stay with us forever.

Childhood memories of family reunions -

• hugs to say hi
• huge softball games complete with uncles doing a great deal of trash talking
• large garbage cans filled with ice and pop
• homemade ice cream so cold it would surely give us each a brain freeze
• tables and tables of delicious food
• another round of hugs to say goodbye

Childhood memories of going visiting at cousins' houses -

• hugs to say hi
• hanging out in the haylofts
• driving the tractors
• helping my cousin with her sheep at the Logan County Fair
• playing hide and seek in the different rooms at the motel my uncle and aunt owned
• always food
• another round of hugs to say goodbye

Adult memories -

• our wedding where our family claims the first Wallace cousins' party began
• future cousins' parties with dancing, laughter, favorite beverages, and tables of delicious food
• boat rides on the lake
• dinners gathered around each others' tables
• grieving together for departed loved ones more times than we would like
• the cousins' party reinstated this past summer at my brother's house
• hugs to say hi and another round of hugs to say goodbye

This past Saturday night memories -

• reached out to some cousins via text : We are free this Saturday. Is anyone free to meet us at the Mexican restaurant?
• Yes. Yes. Yes.
• the service was not great
• the food was just okay
• but many new stories were told and other stories were retold
• there was lots of laughter
• and even a few tears
• and love, lots and lots of love, at the table
• many more memories to savor and add to the bank
• hugs to say hi and another round of hugs to say goodbye

Wanda would have been so happy.

Uncle Carroll*, Uncle Harold*, Uncle Albert*, Uncle Bill*, Uncle Roy
Aunt Florence, Aunt Martha*, Mom (Wanda)*, Aunt Bert, Aunt Mary Evelyn*
missing: Aunt Katherine*
(*gone, but most definitely not forgotten)

**Author's note: When I began writing today, I had one direction, and then this picture and my emotions took me somewhere else. Thanks for stopping here today to read my journey. 
In addition to savoring these family memories, I realized that my cousins are another writing territory for me; I've written about them before.  It's fun to read pieces I've written on the same topic, but approached in different ways.