March 20, 2022 Family Photos at my Aunt Pat's Memorial (Part Two)

Family Definition: a group of people that come from the same ancestor

What makes a true family: the people who support and love you, and the people you can confide in and trust. 

Since my cousin Michelle was staying just down the street from Christy & me, we had breakfast together at Cafe 101 this morning. Then we stopped at South Carlsbad State Beach to enjoy the ocean for a few minutes.

Both of us love the ocean beaches. It must be hereditary. 

Today is all about family. I haven't lived near my family for most of my life. As a kid, almost all of our vacations were visiting family. So many of my favorite childhood memories are from those trips. I can still picture them in my head whenever I think about my grandparent's apartment in NYC filled with family members in every room or our trips to California when eight kids and four parents overfilled my Aunt & Uncle's house. The upside of that meant all the boys had to sleep in a tent in the backyard which I loved as a kid. Even though the past two years of Covid-19 have kept most of us from getting together, I have seen my cousins twice a month on a family zoom meeting started by my cousin Mary. Those zoom meetings meant I've seen them more often over the past two years than any other time in my life. I really enjoyed those virtual get-togethers. But today reminded me of all those childhood memories of so many family gatherings. Today is about seeing someone smile when they saw you walking toward them. Today is about not just talking to a loved one but getting to hug them too. Today is about seeing people you haven't seen in years and having it seem like it was only yesterday that you got together. Today is about meeting the new additions to the family for the first time. Today is about celebrating my Aunt Pat's extraordinary life. Today is about Aunt Pat looking down at all of us together and smiling. 

Uncle Ed talking with his sister

My first cousin Katt with her daughters

my first cousins once removed 

my first cousins once and twice removed

my family

my family laughing at something

Uncle Ed with his daughters

This is what happens when a zookeeper takes pictures at a family get together

Aunt Pat watching over all of us

Georgie talking to his cousin and Godmother Terry

Brothers

Again with zookeeper taking pictures

me asking God if these two are really my parents

Christy getting the soccer ball out of the lake

My parents and all the first cousins

a family that flips you off together, stays together

Aunt Pat's husband and daughters