Crazy Family Story of the Week (No. 3)
I guess my last post scared people… “ OMG! She’s trying to get “smart” on us!” Ya’ know they can’t all be about big hair.
The latest installment of Crazy Family Story of the Week is an attempt to explain how I came to have such a huge extended family. Try to follow; it’s a little confusing. Keep in mind this is only one side of my family!
Way back in the 60s & 70s there were three good Catholic families growing up in a sleepy Salt Lake suburb. There was the E family (that’s mine), the R family and the B family. Each clan had somewhere between six and eight progeny (really good Catholic families!) and they all grew up together at the same Catholic school. The parents were all very good friends, so the three families did a lot together. Some were snottier than others and some were dorkier than others. They had crushes on each other and got each other in trouble- the whole bit. Well, fast forward 10-15 years. All the kids have gotten married and started adding throngs of children of their own. BIG families! My grandfather passed away in the mid-80s, and a few years later the grandmother of the R family also passed away. After that Grandpa R was determined to become a priest, but God had different plans for him! He ended up marrying my Grandma E instead! So, now two huge families are sorta’ one (there’s been a lot of resistance to the idea, so no one gets along very well.). Fourteen kids plus at least 40 grandkids makes for A LOT of Christmas shopping!
So, the E and the R family had been merged for a while, but the B family must have felt left out. It wasn’t too long before my uncle and one of the B sisters confessed that they had always had feelings for each other stemming way back to grade school. So, they got married, too! Now, the E family is connected to both the R and B families (no Rhythm but maybe a little bit of Blues). Still with me? It doesn’t end there. A few years after my uncle got married, another of the B sisters and one of the R brothers fell in love, had a baby and got married which completed this whole crazy family circle. Geez! This isn’t even my LDS Utah family! So, now all three families are connected through intermarriage. I’d draw a diagram, but I’m not that technologically advanced yet.
Long story short, our get-togethers in Utah are usually huge affairs that require renting the church gym or hanging out in a large backyard. I’m pretty sure that the intermarrying is finished. None of the grandkids care much for each other (except for the fleeting crush my brother had on one of the B granddaughters. Alas, she’s getting married this summer. I guess he still has time to work his infamous charm!). We usually ignore each other. It’s easy, because we have enough of our “own” cousins to keep us busy. Of course, every single member of each family had to be invited to our wedding which is mostly why we ended up inviting 400 people. But, if it’s not in Utah, they don’t go. Oh, well. That’s my crazy family!
The latest installment of Crazy Family Story of the Week is an attempt to explain how I came to have such a huge extended family. Try to follow; it’s a little confusing. Keep in mind this is only one side of my family!
Way back in the 60s & 70s there were three good Catholic families growing up in a sleepy Salt Lake suburb. There was the E family (that’s mine), the R family and the B family. Each clan had somewhere between six and eight progeny (really good Catholic families!) and they all grew up together at the same Catholic school. The parents were all very good friends, so the three families did a lot together. Some were snottier than others and some were dorkier than others. They had crushes on each other and got each other in trouble- the whole bit. Well, fast forward 10-15 years. All the kids have gotten married and started adding throngs of children of their own. BIG families! My grandfather passed away in the mid-80s, and a few years later the grandmother of the R family also passed away. After that Grandpa R was determined to become a priest, but God had different plans for him! He ended up marrying my Grandma E instead! So, now two huge families are sorta’ one (there’s been a lot of resistance to the idea, so no one gets along very well.). Fourteen kids plus at least 40 grandkids makes for A LOT of Christmas shopping!
So, the E and the R family had been merged for a while, but the B family must have felt left out. It wasn’t too long before my uncle and one of the B sisters confessed that they had always had feelings for each other stemming way back to grade school. So, they got married, too! Now, the E family is connected to both the R and B families (no Rhythm but maybe a little bit of Blues). Still with me? It doesn’t end there. A few years after my uncle got married, another of the B sisters and one of the R brothers fell in love, had a baby and got married which completed this whole crazy family circle. Geez! This isn’t even my LDS Utah family! So, now all three families are connected through intermarriage. I’d draw a diagram, but I’m not that technologically advanced yet.
Long story short, our get-togethers in Utah are usually huge affairs that require renting the church gym or hanging out in a large backyard. I’m pretty sure that the intermarrying is finished. None of the grandkids care much for each other (except for the fleeting crush my brother had on one of the B granddaughters. Alas, she’s getting married this summer. I guess he still has time to work his infamous charm!). We usually ignore each other. It’s easy, because we have enough of our “own” cousins to keep us busy. Of course, every single member of each family had to be invited to our wedding which is mostly why we ended up inviting 400 people. But, if it’s not in Utah, they don’t go. Oh, well. That’s my crazy family!
posted by Unknown at 10:44 AM
2 Comments:
That's way too much family to track, I don't know how you do it.
It's rough. I don't even know all my "other" cousins' names!
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