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I've got 11 cousins - 9 from mum's side, and 2 from dad's.
Mum and her brother and sister never really got on, and her siblings thought she was 'getting above her station' when she married dad.
I don't think mum really got on with dad's sister, either - I didn't know this side even existed (including dad's mum) until I was 10, and was left with them for the summer holidays!
Dad's sister was living with gran, as she'd just got out of prison - she'd shot her ex husband for treating my cousins unfairly (he didn't die).
Gran had been looking after my cousins and my aunt's dog,.while my aunt was incarcerated.
I got on well with one cousin, but never kept in touch.
As a child, I met my great aunts and uncles occasionally (one uncle, I first met when he was on his death bed), but not enough to 'know' them. I also met one of my second cousins, who, I believe moved to Australia,
As children, we also moved around a lot, which limited the time we could visit relations.
I just love the fact that, as a family, we all have similar (very open) views.
Me and my siblings get along, as do our children, with their cousins, and our children's children seem to get along as well.
Our (childless) elder brother (bonsai potter) loves coming along when he can, as he too, is part of this extended family. He's had one of his nephews down to help him with the restoration of his old smithy.
Four siblings - two girls, two boys. Two dye their hair - and I don't!
Hmmm, I wonder who the second hair dyer is? :-D :-D :-D
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My mums family are quite large. I have 9 1st cousins. Some of those are married so my children have quite a few 2nd cousins.(about 22 in all) However i am not in touch with all my 1st cousins and 1 lad has 9 children!!
The oldest grt grandchild of my nanna(shes 30) has 2 girls and one of my 1st cousins is a grandad to 2 so those wee ones are 3rd cousins.
On my dads side, he was an only child and only has 2 1st cousins as they were also only children.
But I have told many stories to my own children about their cousins to keep that part of the family alive and up to date.
When I was younger, funerals, weddings and christenings brought everyone together but these days not so much.
Florence in the hebrides
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Lovely when various sections of the family and different generations can meet together.
Growing up in southern England, I had 10 first cousins, but strangely it was the ones further away that we knew best. The ones nearer home we met on occasions, but the ones in Wales we actually stayed with and so had more outings and made more memories together.
I don't think I met any 2nd cousins until after Mum had died.
My husband and I took our grandson to Wales to show him the area which we had known since childhood and where his great grandmother was born. Chatting to the owner of the B & B where we stayed, we were surprised to learn that she was in regular contact with my great aunt's grandaughter, ie my 2nd cousin and amazingly that grandaughter, born in Wales and raised in the London area, now lived about 5 miles from me in Kent.
I knew of R. and our family even had a photo of her as a child, when they went to stay with my parents, but it was before my time.
We soon arranged to meet up and have kept in regular contact ever since and now our children have met too, so that's 3rd cousins.
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Our 2 grandaughters, who are cousins, get to meet up with OH's sis grandchildren now and then, so they are second cousins. The girls are all much of an age so enjoy being together. Also, immediately before lockdown, OH's sis 4 other grandchildren came to visit from Tasmania. We had a big get together, so there were our 2 grandaughter cousins, plus OH's sis 4 from Tas plus 3 from UK cousins. 7 girls aged between 3 and 11, and 2 boys who felt quite out of it!
I only had 3 cousins, all quite a bit older, so the 2 who had children were long before I had mine. They also lived some distance away, and my children have only met one lot of them once. However as a child we lived not far from a variety of Mum's 'cousins' and saw them regularly.
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Looking back my grandchildren (son's daughter and son and daughter's three sons met up more than once. I have actually got a photo of them all together.
But also my great grandchildren, grandson's two sons and his brother's two daughters meet up. What relation are they to each other they must be first cousins I suppose. No greats from son's children.
Brain is getting confused.
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Just two? ;-)
I don’t remember meeting any second cousins when younger either. But some of the younger ones have now met, sadly it’s down to funerals mostly.
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We had a 'family' gathering at the weekend.
Not everyone could turn up, but my sister, one of my brothers (the one with children) and me were there, and we had one of our children there, and their children (or most of them).
I've just realised that our (us elderly siblings') grandchildren are second cousins.
I never really knew my cousins - let alone my second cousins.
As it happens, on this occasion, the 5 second cousins were all boys - my younger daughter and her 2 daughters couldn't get there, my eldest grand daughter is 20, and was at work - my nephew's t6 year old daughter found 'something else' to do!
However my grandsons - aged 12 and 15, mooching around in hoodies, were quite happy to play with their second cousins - aged 4, 6 and 10 - and even taught them some fancy handshakes!!!
I just hope they remember their times together.
Hopefully we'll have a mass gathering on a campsite in the Summer - that's when the older second cousins babysit the younger second cousins, while we 'oldies' and their parents sit around the campfire with a beverage or two!
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