The Cains: Family

As you can imagine, I've had a lot of time to think and ponder many things of this great life that we live. It will come as no surprise to you all that family has been one of most prevalent thoughts as of late. Family is so important. It's what life is all about. They are there when the times are good, bad, boring, fun, glorious, not so glorious and are truly what makes up the memories and experiences of a life. I am so thankful for my family. Not just my immediate family, but my extended family - everyone - blood relatives, married relatives and relatives of relatives. I grew up with a very small immediate family - mother, father and one brother. All of my grandparents were dead by the time I was in middle school except for my mother's mother - she lived until my college years. I have one aunt and one uncle - no cousins. My mother often laughs and says we can all fill up one small church pew and it's true.

I married into what I think is an enormous family - David has more first cousins than two hands can count - TWELVE! That is HUGE to a girl who doesn't even have twelve family members when she counts grandparents, parents, siblings and aunts and uncles. As you can imagine his parents are both from large families and have managed to stay close over the years. My mother was an only child and a majority of her childhood was spent with her mother, as her father died when she was 12 years old. With the absence of her father she continued to have close relationships with his family and still does to this day. If you were wondering where this rambling blog post was going .... its here: Mom has a first cousin by marriage that she is still close with and we don't see enough. So we visited Centre, AL - right outside of Gadsden and had a wonderful visit with Novella.

She and her son Mike were gracious hosts and let the girls play with anything and everything they desired. They even bravely ate lunch with us out on the town - a true testament of their love! It was a wonderful day and we're looking forward to going back soon. Thank you for being such wonderful hosts, Novella and Mike!