School Days

I just found this cute poem and thought I'd share. I'm disappointed that there is not a date on the paper but based on the handwriting I suspect I wrote it in 9th grade or later.

Image via http://www.berkeley.k12.sc.us

You start formal school when you're just five years
Filled with excitement and hope, but also fears

You show up with your mom or dad on that very first day
Ready to work hard but mostly you just want to play

Your backpack is so big and your new shoes squeak
The world is a big place and you're feeling quite meek

Soon you become accustomed to your school and its ways
After all, it is now where you spend most of your days

Before long you're eight and third grade is starting
You no longer fear leaving your parents since you are used to the parting

You've grown taller and morphed into a kid
You no longer look as little as you once did

Your learn cursive this year, as well as math and spelling
But that great big playground is still so compelling

More years pass and now you're eleven
Finally moving to middle school seems like it will be heaven

Sixth grade starts and you're ready for a change
But your new middle school seems so strange

You're still just eleven and the big kids are fourteen
You smile at them and hope they won't be mean

You learn to work your locker and are excited to see
That many of your friends also have Lunch B

Branching Out

My mom has one sister and my dad has two brothers. When I was born, I was the first grandchild on both sides of the family. My brother was born when I was not quite 3 and my uncle's two daughters were born when I was 7 and 9, respectively. My mom's sister did not have children and neither did any of her three first cousins nor my dad's mom's brother, so I have no first or second cousins on my mom's side and no second cousins through my paternal grandmother. My dad's dad's brother and his wife did have three children and each had 2-3 children of their own. So in summary, I have a grand total of 1 sibling, 2 first cousins, and 7 second cousins, as well as 2 step-first cousins and 3 step-second cousins, quite a small family by most standards.

I've been a little sad about this for some time. I have friends who have several nieces and nephews and I see pictures on Facebook with the grandparents and their umpteen grandchildren posing together at a reunion. We don't have that in my family. My mom's dad has my brother and me and my dad's parents have 4 grandchildren. Including by marriage, I have 2 aunts and 3 uncles.

A few years ago, in an effort to consolidate the various paper family trees my parents have as well as to help remember to whom I am related and how, I made an account on a genealogy website and plugged in the information from the trees. I now have more than 400 people in my online tree and recently realized I have a lot of third cousins. While the offspring of my parents' siblings total just 2, the descendants of my great-grandparents' siblings are numerous and I have not even found all the names yet. Sure, we don't share a set of grandparents or even great-grandparents, but we do share a set of great-great-grandparents and every person in the infinite number of generations before that, and to me, that still means family.

Just this week I have taken to Facebook to connect with more relatives. I am so excited to be in touch with many of my and my parents' first, second, and third cousins and their children. Did I really think I came from a small family?!