A cousin of mine came to visit me a couple of days ago. He spent just a few hours with me, but they were intense for the range of topics that we covered.
There is only five years difference in age between us and we have always been quite close to each other due to various circumstances that kept throwing opportunities to be with each other at us throughout our life.
I was loath to see him leave as there was so much more to talk and reminisce about. I suppose that this is what happens when people close to you are physically far away from you and your meetings with them are all too infrequent.
Two topics that we discussed were interesting for their application to many people in similar circumstances.
My cousin is childless due to some medical reasons. He and his brother have lived in a joint family and his brother’s children were all the time around for him to be exposed to the joys of children growing up. Added to that, he has a sister living close by whose children also used to be around quite frequently and so the numbers were also quite substantial.
Now, all the children are grown up and some have children of their own. His brother is quite busy with his grand children whereas, with the joint family having split up recently, with each sibling moving into individual homes, this particular cousin is left with his wife in an independent home. He recently had a stroke and that has also had an effect on his psyche. My brother who is a neighbor for him also is quite busy with a grand child and I am not yet blessed with one.
This common absence of grandchildren as well as his childlessness has caused a lot of commentary within our family circles. This was the topic that took up quite a bit of our time to get both of us in a humorous mood to learn about all the comments made by various others and the theories that are going around about what will be mentioned in our wills! Both of us had a good laugh at such minor matters getting such major attention.
What a topic to discuss about! I suppose that all families go through such discussions when nothing else interesting takes place. Do you have access to such information if the bulk of your family lives far away from where you live? How do you react to such discussions?
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