(no subject)

I recently reconnected with three cousins and an ex-aunt (for lack of a better term) that I have not seen in years.

When I was little, our family and their family used to see each other all the time. We'd probably see each other at least once a month.

To make a long story short, my uncle and aunt went through a nasty divorce maybe seven years ago. My uncle was the one that was actually related to us, and the three kids went to live with their mom. Because of the nastiness of the divorce, they kind of shrank away from their father's side of the family.

The middle cousin had a baby about seven years ago. I saw her maybe twice in all that time, and her child once when she was maybe four months old and not since. I bumped into the youngest one (who, coincidentally, was born the same day as nikki_kp) maybe three times at family Christmas parties. The oldest one hit rock bottom and hadn't been seen by anyone in all that time (she's since cleaned up and bounced back).

So after these seven years, the middle cousin held a big party for the First Holy Communion of her daughter. It was the first time I had seen the oldest one in all that time, and with the divorce more or less blown over, it was the first chance I had to really talk to any of them. After the main pary, they had a little after-party at my ex-aunt's house. We caught up on each other's lives and we finally got back in touch with each other.

I don't know if all of this means anything, but it felt good and I needed to share it.