Family Ties, Part I

So I received an e-mail this morning from my Mom's eldest brother. Which was rather unusual, considering I don't think he's ever contacted me before in his life. In the few years that I've been back in touch with that part of my family, his wife has always been the one to correspond. But I suppose I ought to provide a little background. Good luck keeping track.

Relatively Uncomplicated

See, my mom has 2 brothers and 1 sister. Pop was an only child, as well as myself, so his side of the family is somewhat easier to keep track of. I say somewhat, cuz Grandpa came from a HUGE family... so I've gotta buncha second cousins twice removed 'n such, that I don't really know very well at all. Though, to be honest, I don't know ANY of my extended family very well. Most of em have always been here in the Midwest, while I grew up on the West Coast during Pop's career in the Navy.

Yiy

But back to Mom's side. I suppose the most logical place to start would be my Yiy. "Yiy" is short for Yaya, which means grandmother in Greek. Yiy is a very interesting lady. Almost a 180 from my other grandmother. Whereas Gram always seems so delicate and fragile, I don't think either descriptive could EVER have applied to Yiy. Her personality can frequently seem somewhat formidable. She's certainly no-nonsense, takes no disrespect to herself or her family, and tells it precisely as she sees it. I can't imagine her as anything but independent... she was certainly a woman ahead of her time. After 3 different husbands proved not quite the right fit for herself, her life and her children, she raised those 4 kids on her own. She opened her own restaurant at one time, and remodeled a house all by herself (well, with the help of my Aunt, Uncles and Mom... which explains why Mom's such a handywoman around the house).

In the way of a person who's only ever really viewed another from one perspective for so long, I've recently been surprised to learn that Yiy and I have quite a few things in common. She's travelled the world, has a tattoo or two of her own, and loves to read sci-fi and fantasy. She drives a li'l '98 maroon Toyota Corolla... while I chug about in a li'l '89 maroon Toyota Corolla. This was completely by accident, by the way. I didn't even realize we drove the same kind of car until she drove through Misery earlier this year on her way through to Chicago to stay with her sister after bipass surgery. I've wanted to try to get to know her better, though I'm not entirely happy with her at the moment. But I'll explain that soon enough.

Uncle Blacksheep

So on to Yiy's eldest offspring, Mom's big brother... the one who e-mailed me this morning. I'll call him Uncle Blacksheep, because back when all of us cousins were just little, he evidently had some sort of falling out with Yiy and his siblings that I never understood, and kind of went his own way for a while. He had three sons, though one is now gone. Both of my remaining cousins are also married, but I don't think they've had any kids, yet. The widow of my cousin who was killed had a little boy already before they were married, and he's been kind of adopted into the family as the first official great-grandchild.

Aunt & The Twins

Mom is the second child in the family. My Aunt is the third. She was married and had twin boys. From my understanding, she hadn't been too hip on the idea of kids, but her husband really wanted them. Then, as it turned out, her body was actually allergic to the pregnancy hormone, and she had one miserable and dangerous pregnancy... with twins, to boot. The docs took the twins as soon as it was safe, but they had a rocky premie stage... and even after they were able to go home, they had a LOT of medical problems. Including sleep apnea, which meant that one or the other parent had to stay awake at all times to make sure they kept breathing.

Needless to say, keeping my cousins safe and healthy took a LOT of strength, time and energy. Evidently, it proved too much for her husband, and he cut his losses and left. After he was the one who wanted them in the first place. He's not a favorite person in our family. But obviously my Aunt loves her children to pieces regardless, and did an excellent job of raising them on her own. The last time I saw them, they were strong, healthy, great kids. I'm fairly sure they ought to have graduated high school by now, so it's been a while. Communication between my Aunt and my Mom kind of faded away, and I haven't heard much from them aside from an occasional Christmas card.

Uncle Bachelor

Yiy's last offspring is Mom's little brother... I'll call him Uncle Bachelor. Cuz, as far as I know, he's still a bachelor, and perfectly happy to remain that way. Though, now that I think on it, I think I might have heard he found a lady that just might fit the bill to be Mrs. Uncle Bachelor. I honestly don't know very much about him except that he and Mom are pretty tight... always have been. When Mom lost touch with her other siblings, she always still had him.

So that's the cast. I think I'll explain the current situation in a second post, cuz this one's getting a little long.