extended family

Sparky Lily

Well-Known Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Yell, Shetland
We've just had an e-mail from OH's youngest brother, announcing the safe arrival of their new baby over the weekend. This got me thinking how extended the family is now.

My OH is the eldest of 5 children. He was 17 when this youngest brother was born. We married and had our first child when we were 20. This youngest brother was an uncle three times over by the time he started school and became a great-uncle while at university. Two of his great-nieces were flower girls at his wedding in Germany 10 years ago - actually the day before my and OH's 30th wedding anniversary.

The 5 siblings have between them now produced 17 cousins in 39 years. Three are now grandparents - our eldest grandchild (one of the flower girls) is 19.

It's such a shame that my parents-in-law are not around any more, but family gatherings are such fun. I'm looking forward to meeting my new nephew at the end of this month.
 
I was thinking about my extended family the other day. Both of my parents came from big[ish] families, and I now have only 1 uncle and 2 aunt-in-laws left on my Dad's side, and 1 aunt on my mother's side...

I've lost contact with nearly everyone on my Dad's side, most of those cousins would be in their late 50s or older and are probably grandparents by now! I had two cousins [both are married with kids who are in their late teens/early 20s now] who were near me in age, but contact with them has dwindled to Christmas cards.

On my mother's side there are too many cousins to count! To the best of my memory there's only me and one other [female] cousin who've never married or had kids, I've lost track of how many kids there are, all of them have had at least 2 kids, and a few of them are of marrying age themselves now!

I reckon if I was to get married, I'd be able to invite somewhere in the region of 120 relations! (pretty sure most of them wouldn't come tho')
 
My extended family is the same, i'm the eldest of 5 and the youngest is 12, she was an aunt at 7. I am so glad the age gap between my own children is only 2 years because i think too big an age gap makes families distant. Apologies do not want to offend but my personal opinion.
 
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