Not The Kids Table

So many of us when growing up loathed the 'kids table' at family gatherings. Until you reached a certain age you sat with the younger folk, even when you were, by, ahem, relative standards, not really that young.

But did you know that the opposite is true too? There's an old folks table you can, I guess, graduate to. It's happened to me before and will again at this afternoon's Cosgriff family reunion.

I'm the second oldest grandchild in my branch of Cosgriffs, if you start with me Grandpa Joe and Grandma Cosgriff as is the case with us. Consequently all of my cousins are younger than me. Not that we don't get along, because we do. Indeed in this Facebook age I believe my cousins and I know each other very well especially compared to other generations. 

Still, the age gap can and does make a difference in tastes, and the simple fact that my younger cousins would play together at past reunions while I was just beyond their age range naturally drew them closer to one another. It's just how things are.

So at this afternoon's gathering I'll probably gravitate towards the aunts and uncles rather than cousins. I'll be at the old folks table. And I really don't want to graduate from that one anytime soon. 

Thinking Back

I really shouldn't write this blog, because it's the kind that becomes about you and you really don't want it to be that. The simple act of writing it, I suppose, makes it about you. Still, I think, I hope, that I may be making a worthwhile statement, so I'll go ahead just the same.

My brother-in-law passed away this week. I always liked the guy well enough. We never had a cross word between us that I recall, yet for years I never felt we had found a comfort zone with one another. It was as though we weren't ever quite on the same page. Our conversations were always civil enough but in my mind stilted, as though there was a space between us, a gap that we couldn't quite bridge.

Then when my wife told me he had died, the first thing I remembered was a baseball game he and I were at at old Tiger Stadium back during Detroit's World Series run in 1984. It was a great evening. We had fun over a couple of beers. There were some pickup ball games and rounds of golf back in the day too.

Soon I was thinking about a few good favors he did for me and my family over the years. I thought about when he arranged for his son, my nephew, to set me up for a practical joke at a Boy Scout meeting one night. It was funny, I have to admit.

Before long I was thinking, man, I'm gonna miss the big lug. Maybe we were more on a level than I thought.

Goodspeed, Chuck, and you're in my prayers.

Me Pops and me Uncle Junior

I really don't know what his actual name is until yet. But we called him Uncle Junior so that's how I know him. Him and me Pops got along quite well. To be sure, me Pops got along fine with everyone in the family. It's just that this morning I found myself thinking about him and Uncle Junior. To my other Uncles, beware. Your time will come.

Pops and Uncle Junior joked around a lot. One time Uncle Junior swore he'd never again go out to dinner with me Pops. He was embarrassed, he said, because Pops ordered a ton of food. Indeed, too much food. "I never saw a waitress bring out a plate with side boards before," he quipped.

Me Pops once owed me Uncle some money. Before a trip to North Carolina, Dad dutifully got together what he owed Uncle Junior. When he saw him a couple days later, Pops gave him the cash. Me Uncle just stuck it right in his pocket. "Aren't you gonna count it?" Dad asked.

"What for? You done counted it a dozen times," Uncle Junior replied. I'll take that a sign he trusted the old man.

As more comes to mind, I'll let y'all hear more.