COUSINS!

I recently had a reply from Lori, one of my cousins, who I remember from way back when I was a kid. In honor of her, and all my cousins, I post this picture. Thanks, Lori, for making me remember what it was like to be a kid.

I could probably write a lengthy disertation on what it was like to have so many cousins, but since I’m short on time, I’ll review only one memory, and ask anyone else who would like to to share some of theirs.

THE MISSING SHOES

One thing all us cousins always liked to do, when we would have summer family picnics, would be to play kickball out in the middle of the street. One time, we were playing in front of Aunt Bertha’s house, and for some reason we decided it would be best if we took off our shoes. So we all took off our shoes and lined them up on the front porch while we went out to the street for kickball.

The front porch was hidden by high bushes, and when we came back after the game, we discovered that ONE SHOE out of every pair was missing! It was funny, and disturbing. It was a mystery.

I think we eventually discovered that our older cousins, Aunt Bertha’s sons, who were teenagers and too old to play kickball with us in the street, had played a practical joke on us and hidden half our shoes. I guess we eventually got our shoes back. I don’t remember. I just remember how surprised we were when we came back up to the porch and found only one of our shoes each!

I also remember how much fun it was to play kickball in the middle of the street.