Day 32: Gen 4, meet gen 1

Today, Maiya met her great grandparents.

Family is so important to me, probably because I have so little.  I am the oldest of four and the only girl. Only one of my brothers is married (the month before Lettuce and I) so I have one niece and two nephews.


My family is a bit complicated. My mother was one of nine children, but her mother gave her away when she was a baby. She then became one of two children. We eventually met her bio family in 1997.  Though we aren't very close to them, we still talk to them from time to time.

My maternal grandparents were are two of the most important people in my life.  My grandaddy died about 6 weeks before my 16th birthday, in 1997.  My grandmother (my Nana) died the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2001, when Astronaut was 13 months old.  She was 84 years old and had dementia. We had to tell her who he was every day, but she loved him because he was a baby.  I had one picture of them, but misplaced it.  My mom had one brother but he died in 2004 and never had children.  '

My grandparents in the 60s or 70s. You're workin' that dress, Nana!

 My father's mother died when he was 17, years before I was born. He never knew his father.  He has one sister who has 2 kids.  That's right. I have 2 first cousins.  On one hand, it stinks to have so little close family. On the other hand, I have the most awesome first cousins EVER! One is a tattoo artist and the other is a MMA fighter.

Celtic Motherhood Knot done by my cousin. Glad I left from for Popcorn...

 My husband's family is much larger. His grandmother is one of about 13 and everybody had a bunch of kids.  Lettuce is the only child of his parents, but his mom had 3 more and his dad had at least 3 more.  He's the oldest of at least seven.

He has no nieces or nephews yet, but he does have scads of cousins, aunts, and uncles.

Here are some shots from today. Popcorn loves her great granny!  She was smiling at her and didn't cry. She just kept looking at her and stuff.  It was really sweet.

Now I'm off to do some more research on Ancestry. That 1940 census is a pain in the ass, but it's very informative,