Family

My mom and dad are both from very large families. It is so hard for everyone to get together and we are all increasingly busy. Coupled with the fact that we moved 16 hours away when I was 6 years old, it is not uncommon to only see family members at weddings and funerals. I am thankful that we have a good many of Justin’s family members as well as my grandmother and three of my dad’s siblings that live down here.

I appreciate the time that everyone puts forth to get together. I don’t make the effort I should to see other family members, especially the ones that live back in New Jersey. I want to work on that. Justin and I have been plotting to get back up there some time in the next year or so.

Sami got these pictures at Wyatt’s birthday party. Ironically, the family members that are always around (our parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, niece, and nephews) didn’t make it into any pictures.

I have made a pretty good effort to get the Cook men together at family gatherings to get multi-generational photos done, but I always forget things like Wyatt with his Mimi and Pop or his Grandma and Pa. Have mercy if I ever get my act together and actually get a picture of Justin, Wyatt, and me all together for one of these major events.

Four generations of Cook men (L-R): Wyatt, Justin, Justin’s first cousin once removed Gene, Sheldon, and on the front row Justin’s great-uncle Glynn, whom our road is named after and whom we bought our house from. Gene and his wife Laverne came down from Fort Valley and Uncle Glynn is our next door neighbor (over the creek and through the woods).

Gene and his wife Laverne catered our rehearsal dinner with the best barbeque and brunswick stew. He even shares some secret family recipes for his award winning food with Justin from time to time.

Laverne

In case anyone is wondering, this is what Wyatt will look like as a 30-something and as a 50-something.

Mrs. Desiree and Mr. Sheldon brought Granny from the nursing home, which made Wyatt tickled pink.

Aunt CAT (which is redundant because CAT stands for Crazy Aunt Terri) loves on Wyatt and she even managed to spell his name right for the card. Inside joke: She would write “SarHa” on all of my birthday cards even until I was married. We love her for it and our jokes are all in good fun.

Wyatt with Nanny, his great-grandmother. I am so glad Nanny was able to make it to the party. She doesn’t get out very much anymore because she just turned 89 and it meant a lot that she was able to come help celebrate.