Holy Rollin' Cousins

My Dad has one sister, Patricia. 
She is considerably older than him, like 8 years, I think. 
And she married a Pentecostal Minister, Uncle Milton. 
Together they had three daughters. 
They lived in Channelview, Texas and had their own church, Truth Tabernacle.
They never cut their hair, 
always wore long dresses, 
and were the picture of Minister's daughter's. 
I secretly envied them...they always looked like they were going to a Party.

So the one and only time they ever ever ever came to visit us was when I was in 6th grade. My Mom cleaned the house like President Nixon was coming to stay. 
It shined like a new penny.
We were all so excited for their arrival. 
We kept looking out the front door and down the street until 
they pulled into the driveway and we all ran out to meet them.

Now, Lila (named after Granma Lila) was older than me by at least 6 years. 
Nina was closer to me, but still older by about 3 years and 
BonnieBeth was younger by about 3 years. 
So Nina and BonnieBeth were ready to hang out with us kids, 
while Lila wanted to keep company with the adults.
My brothers and I had a favorite place to go to not far from where we lived. 
It was a sandy cliff,
that you could actually project yourself OFF the cliff, 
catch some air, and fall into the soft sandy bottom near a running creek.
We somehow managed to talk my cousins into going there with us. 
Oh sure, they were reluctant at first..."we can't mess our hair, our dresses are new-- blah blah blah" . 
We told them that the didn't HAVE to jump, they could watch us and hey, if they changed their minds, they were welcomed to it!
Well, we were gone at least an hour,
jumpin' and catchin' air and sand, 
before Nina had a moment of clarity as  she looked at BonnieBeth. 
Who was a Mess and looked nothing like a Preacher's Daughter. 
Her long blonde braids had twigs and sand in them. 
Her dress pockets were full of sand and pebbles. 
Her socks were tossed in the dirt on the cliff, feet and hands covered in sand. 
Head to toe.
Nina wised up, and started frantically wiping, shaking, brushing her sister down to clean her up.
Then she took stock of her own appearance. 
And started laughing. 
It was not a "hey ain't this funny laugh" (that's what my brothers and I were thinking),
 it was a mildly maniacal, 
"Oh crap, my Mom's gonna kill me!" laugh. 
We didn't know any better, so we just laughed along.

Well we when arrived at the house, Nina told us all to go in as quietly as possible so she and BonnieBeth could get to the bathroom and clean themselves up before Aunt Pat saw them.
I wish I could say that happened. 
It didn't. Hey, I have 4 brothers. Boys are anything but quiet.
I dashed into my parent's bathroom, 
and all I know is that by the time I came out, 
Aunt Pat and her three daughters were in their car pulling out of the driveway. 
And my mom was breathing fire out of her nose.
Still, what a sight it was for me to see my prim and proper cousins just having fun and sharing a day with us. 
I loved them for being normal.

I have over 2 dozen cousins.  
I have seen only one of them in 30 years.  
Altho, thru facebook, I've reconnected with a dozen of them! 
I think I'll look for Nina, Lila, and BonnieBeth today.

My own children have 18 cousins--and haven't seen any of them in a decade, and some

not at all, due to the fact that we live far away from where I grew up, and divorces.

I wish I could fix that. 
I hope my own children stay close enough that their children have tight relationships with their cousins.

What about you?  Best memories of your cousins?


P.S. I found Lila on FB a couple of weeks ago.