When I was little there were times when all my cousins would converge at my Grandma and Grandpa Lowman’s house. For the most part we’d have a great time together playing dress up, rummaging through the back bedroom and eating delicious treats.
When the time came to either go work with Grandpa in his shop or stay with Grandma in the house, Danielle and I would often choose to stay with Grandma. We’d pass our time folding her napkin collection, dusting her bell collection or just talking. The rest of the grandkids would go get dirty in Grandpa’s shop and work with his tools. I loved the order of Grandma’s cupboards and the feel of the soft napkin collection.
Perhaps it was the napkin folding, but my two older cousins, Megan and Nate, rallied the other cousins into making a Cousins Club without Danielle and me. Megan, Nathan, Phil, Ben & Cody took over the chicken coop and made it their clubhouse – with a sheet hung as a door and a sign to boot!
Danielle and I sat outside the Cousins Club on a huge rock passing our time while our cousins and siblings held their Cousins Club meetings inside the coop. To this day Danielle and I have not let Megan or Nathan forget the heartbreak we felt – oh, the pain!
After years and years of sadness related to not being in the Cousins Club, Danielle had the brilliant idea of starting our own Cousins Club with Maggie! We’ve even got shirts to prove our membership!
Yesterday Maggie and I had a long talk about different things that our Cousins Club stands for: napkin folding, bell dusting and equity for all Lowman cousins.
Just so happens that there is only room on the shirts for her, Danielle and me!
Cousins….me and my cousin Ryan who were born like 500 years after the rest of our cousins and born only two days apart…we were “kissin cousins”. We had the same type t-shirts with iron on letters that said so. 🙂