Where Da Cousins At?

I always imagined I would have a large family. Not necessarily a lot of kids of my own, but being one of four kids myself, I assumed that as I got older my life and my kids' lives would be full of cousins, large family dinners, and vacations that involved words like "the compound."

Now that I have kids though, I realize that is probably never going to be the case for more than a few reasons. But a large, connected family is still something that I yearn for, and it's something that I want for my kids. So how can I get that without growing my own and becoming my own version of Octo-mom?

But then again, I am one of four kids myself, and my kids will not have cousins of similar ages with whom to run around in the yard together. Let me be clear, I am not trying to call out my sister or brothers for either not having more kids or not having kids yet. I just mean when I imagined my adult life, I imagined my kids having this network of extended family to draw on that in my current reality does not exist, at least not yet.

My husband is the older sibling too, and while I don't think he ever envisioned the same flush flag-football teams at Thanksgiving that I did, I still thought that his younger brother was at least another cousin-making relative in the mix.

Plus, we waited to have kids. Statistically, I mean, even though I am older, because I waited, there was a good chance my sibs wouldn't be far behind. Except that my sister was way ahead of me with her son. And while Wiggle adores the X-man, and Buster will too (as soon as he has the ability to recognize who he is), he is enough older and separated by distance to be more like an uncle than a contemporary cousin. A kick-ass uncle/cousin for sure, and when they are in their thirties, it will all even out, but until then, my boys make their own cohort at family gatherings.

Grumble, grumble. Grouse, grouse.

Can you tell that I miss my family?