Cousins

By the time I was 10 or 12 I had 25 living first cousins--10 on my mother's side and 15 on Dad's.  Two cousins had already died.  The oldest cousin was 26 years older than me and had a daughter a year my senior.  Fourteen were born before 1931 and the rest were born between 1937 and 1949.  They were the old cousins and the young ones.  Since my brother was born in 1931 he was one of the old ones.  With a few, I am closer to their children than to them.  The children are closer to me in age!
Last week I lost another of the older cousins, Mary Grace Aiello Gering.  Mary was short, funny, and intelligent.  She survived ovarian cancer and died at age 87.  I am now the oldest surviving cousin on Mom's side of the family--the oldest of 4.
On Dad's side I have 6 surviving cousins.  Three are over 80 and 3 are close to me in age.  I really feel that the family is decimated with so few of us left.  We are scattered across the USA from California to Florida.  I'm the only one left in NJ.  Its really sad to consider all the ones we have lost but there are happy memories of most of them.