Cousins and the Chain of Family

Cousins: Julian and Lillian

I haven’t written for Lillian’s blog in some time: she’s growing up and more and more of her story is hers to tell and not mine; I see her with the eyes of a doting grandfather, and see loveliness and kindness and something close to perfection. That’s a heavy burden to put on anyone, so perhaps best not to write about it everyday!

Yesterday at my brother’s house, we got together with Deborah, one of my two first cousins, the daughter of my dad’s sister, and her family. We had a good representation of cousins — though we missed those who weren’t there.

Deborah, John, David

These days, the cousins of my generation are the eldest of our family. Our parents are all gone. I remembered their voices, and the voices of the old people of my youth, as I watched Julian, Deborah’s grandson, and Lillian, my granddaughter, laugh and play. I wondered if, in fifty or sixty years, they might sit in some living room watching their grandchildren play, and think back to this day, and remember some of the voices in that long chain of people from whom they come.

John, Deborah, Hardin, David

In January of 1954, sixty-five years ago, Deborah and David, my brother, and I, played in my grandparents’ house out in the country in far western Kentucky. There’s a snapshot of us, and in the background is our great-grandfather, Hardin Graves. He was born in 1876; as he sat there watching us, did he think back to his own childhood and remember the old ones of his youth? Was his childhood as vivid and present in his memory then as mine is in mine today?

I don’t know. But I love to see my children, and my grandchild, and my nieces and my nephews, and my cousins, and to hear their voices, and to hope that the chain of family they represent will continue unbroken into the future.

More Cousins: Justin, Emma, Miranda, Nathan, Julian, Lillian

Easter in Huntington

Lillian spent the Easter weekend in Huntington with Na Na and Paw Paw Denby. She got to spend a lot of time with her cousins Wesley and Katelyn. Lillian’s Aunt Elli had these pictures made. Lillian loves her cousins!

Cousins in the Country

Lillian and her dad Josh went up to Lillian’s Aunts Cari and Sylvia’s country place near Cleveland (Texas) on Saturday. Lillian’s NaNa and Paw-Paw (Peggy and Keith Denby) and Aunt Elli and Uncle Josh Williams, with cousins Katelyn and Wesley came down from Huntington to meet them. Here’s Peggy’s report:

The Denby family had a get-together on Saturday so the little cousins could play.  Lillian and Katelyn both had “super hero” capes and enjoyed “flying” down the driveway … hugging to show their “super powers” … and relaxing together when their super powers ran low!  They played “baseball” … hit a few “golf” balls and Lillian “vacuumed” the yard with the golf bag “cart”.

All of the adults (and little Wesley) were entertained all day!  The rain came after lunch and two tired little cousins were loaded into their cars (where I’m sure they immediately fell asleep) and headed home.

Lillian and Katelyn in Huntington

While Lillian and Josh were up visiting the Denby grandparents in Huntington, she got to spend time with her cousin Katelyn, the daughter of Josh’s sister Elli and her husband Josh Williams. Katelyn has a new brother, Wesley, but, as he is not yet a year old, he’s a bit young for the fashionable girl cousins.

Peggy reports that the girls had a blast: they had a special dining and play table that they both loved and they played outside and giggled and danced the day away.

Saturday in the Park with Lillian, Miranda and Nathan

Lillian has spent the last week recovering from pneumonia — reading, drawing, watching tv, sleeping and coughing. She’s a lot better and a little bit stir crazy. So Saturday afternoon, when her dad needed a few hours to rest, do laundry and clean the apartment, Lillian’s grandfather decided to take her to Hermann Park to ride the train. On the way, he picked up two of Lillian’s cousins, Miranda and Nathan, who’d just arrived home from tennis practice.

Saturday was one of those gorgeous days you get in Houston every now and then: sunny and just warm enough to think about ditching your sweater. What Lillian’s ePa did not take into account was that a very large number of other Houstonians would also decide that the park on a gorgeous day was the place to be. But, after 20 minutes of trying to find a parking spot, ePa ruthlessly cut in front of three other cars and stole a space. Fortunately, none of the other drivers was angry enough to start shooting, so Lillian and her cousins and grandfather hiked into the park.

The first stop was the train station. ePa bought tickets and we grabbed seats on the train and rode through the park, waving at all the joggers and picnickers. ePa kept an arm around Lillian, who was a bit too keen on hanging out of the moving train for ePa’s taste. The train operators have you exit through the gift shop: we managed to get out without buying any of the overpriced but interesting items on offer. Lillian did hug every single plush tiger, rabbit, hippopotamus and snake in the store.

After the train ride, we decided to take a walk around the duck pond. Any walk with Lillian near any body of water involves Lillian’s companions trying to keep her on the shore side and out of the water. Miranda and Nathan proved very helpful in this endeavor. Many sticks and leaves and small stones found themselves being flung into the water, and the ducks did not seem to desire a closer acquaintance with Lillian, much to her disappointment. As we walked, we saw a creature swimming along the shore. “Look!” some nearby kids cried, “a beaver!” A little later, it climbed out of the water onto the grass to get some of the bread people were feeding the ducks. Lillian said, “A kitty cat!” and ran to pet him. ePa managed to grab a corner of her shirt: “It’s not a kitty, Lilz, it’s a nutria.” Before Lillian could embrace him, the nutria slunk back into the water and swam away.

After a while, the day grew cooler and Lillian got tired and just a wee bit cranky, so we headed back to the car, giving her ample opportunity to use her current favorite words (“No! I don’t like that!”) Once again, the presence of cousins was a great help (Lillian has a fabulous assortment of cousins on the Graves and Denby and Wenner and Nuber sides — and probably some other sides I am forgetting — ranging in age from new-born to old fart) and, with charm and grace, they got her going in the right direction and restored to good cheer.

Once in the car, Lillian conked out. ePa and the cousins stopped at Sonic and had various delicious and decadent beverages, and Nathan and Miranda shared a number of truly awful jokes and puns, delivered with impeccable comic timing. Then, we dropped the cousins back at their place and delivered a refreshed, but very hungry, Lillian back to her dad and supper.

Lillian, Her Cousin Evelyn and A Musical Globe

A week or two ago, Josh and Lillian’s cousin Evelyn Tully dropped by. She writes: “I had a great visit with Josh and Lillian. She enjoyed the lighted musical globe I took to her. (She liked the pink gift bag almost as much. She immediately said, ‘Pink bag — a party!’)”

The photo shows Lillian doing musical map study with Evelyn, her cousin from Illinois.

Water Bug

The Lilibug’s great-uncle David has a big pool (actually, she has two great-uncle Davids with big pools, one a Graves and one a Wenner) and she spent Memorial Day afternoon splashing around in it with her dad and some of her cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents and great-grandmothers (although her great grandmother decided not to do any splashing). She ate hot dogs and potato salad and a cheesecake made by her fabulously talented cousin Miranda.

Josh counted the afternoon a great success: not long after they got home, the Lilibug asked him to put her to bed and she went right to sleep. (This does not happen very often).

A Gathering of Denbys

A special report from grandma Peggy: Lillian enjoyed playing at Great Grandmother Denby’s house with her Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Cousin Katelyn and second cousins Luke, Joel and Anaya. Bubble and balls proved to be fun for the children and adults. And the youngsters decided balls were great for sitting and bouncing. Aunt Cari is a favorite and just one of the girls!

We hope to get this group together more often!

Secrets

Peggy’s cousin, Evelyn Tully, took this picture of Lillian and her cousin Katelyn at the reception following Ashley’s memorial service last month.

This may give the two dads a small preview of what they have to look forward to in fourteen or fifteen years.

Visiting Family

Lillian’s Na-Na and Paw-Paw, other wise known as her grandparents Peggy and Keith Denby, came down from Huntington to visit Lillian and Josh on Saturday. While they were there, Lillian helped Peggy do laundry and some other chores, then got to play with her LeapPad kids’ tablet as a reward. (Lillian is fascinated with all things electronic, and loves Yia-Yia Nancy’s iPhone: if you get any strange emails from any of us, it’s likely Lillian has taken over one of our computing devices). While the Denbys were visiting, Lillian’s great aunt came over from Austin to check up on Lillian.

On Sunday afternoon, Lillian packed into the car with Nancy and her great-grandmother Anne, and drove over to Pearland to visit my cousin Deborah and her husband Joe, her mom Donna (my Dad’s sister) and dad Robert, and her son Justin and his wife SuSu. My brother David and his wife Michelle came as well with their four kids; the cousins kindly helped keep Lillian occupied: Deborah and Joe have cats and stairs, so Lilz spent the afternoon chasing cats and climbing stairs: she may have worn the cousins out. The rest of us had a great time catching up and talking about old friends and old times.