Faith Family Friends: Cousins

When you are asked what is most important to you- most would say family. I know I would. The family I am thinking of isn't just the immediate family but the extended family also. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to my cousin Mike's daughter's wedding in Santa Cruz. I don't get to see my cousins very often...We are all really different from each other but we all have the same bond of being part of the Maxwell family. My mother's maiden name is Maxwell. My cousin Mike's Mom was my mom's older sister. The Maxwells lived in a teeny tiny town in Lucien, Oklahoma. Every year my family made a trip back to Oklahoma to spend a month with the grandparents and all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Everyone came from other parts of Oklahoma, Kansas. We came the farthest from California. I have 21 first cousins. By LDS standards that isn't a big deal. But having not grown up in the LDS church I always thought I was pretty special to have so many cousins.

Lucien was a little farming town in rural Oklahoma. It had one gas station, one local market, one post office and one church. Miles and Evelyn Maxwell had a big white 2 story house across the red dirt road from the one room school house.. Going there was such an adventure. The house had 2 stair cases in it. One was like a secret passage. It had a great front porch with a creaky screen door that I can still remember the sound of. We bathed on the back porch in a small tin tub with hot water that was heated on the stove. And to go to the bathroom we had to walk out the back door down the steps, go through a small gate, walk past the vegetable garden to the outhouse. Sometimes Pat , the bull, was grazing in the back and I was terrified to go out there. It was always a challenge to wake up one of my sisters or cousins to go with me out there at night so that they could hold the flashlight! For fun we would climb out on the roof of the house and climb into the pine tree by the roof, or hike to the railroad trellis and climb down to the creek below, or play on the playground at the school house across the road. I also remember walking to the market to see Mabel, the owner. We would buy strawberry soda pop from a really weird pop bottle machine. Of all my memories of being in Lucien - probably the best is being with the rest of the the kids and watching my grandmother pulling the homemade taffy with her buttery hands. She would work really fast so as not to burn her hands. She also made the best popcorn balls and for fun would put food coloring in the sugar!

So over the years we have grown up and now we all live all over the world. Many of us are grandparents ourselves. But there is something great about being with family. My cousin, Monita and I had a great talk on the way back from Santa Cruz. She made a comment that our family is full of grace- meaning unconditional love- for each other in spite of our flaws. That's why when I get a chance to see my cousins I will always make the effort.

Thought I would share a few pictures of the wedding--