Cousins-Mine & Yours~

None of either of my parent's  siblings are still living.  Aunt Lila Mae & Aunt Josephine were the last of Mama's to pass away during the past 2-3 years. 

Growing up in South Georgia during the 1940's & '50's we could never have imagined how we would one day be scattered across the country not even seeing each other for 5, 10 even 20 years - As children we spent Sundays together, gathering for Sunday Dinner [lunch] and playing "all  over creation" all afternoon until everyone went their separate ways.  We spent weeks together during the summer.  We all gathered together for Christmas & Thanksgiving and family reunions in Mershon every October. Grandpa Mobley's birthday was in October and so was Aunt Laura's and my cousin Eugene's. Some of these folks we never saw any other time except those October reunions..but it was so memorable or perhaps they were such remarkable people that pictures of them, their voices, personalities remain a permanent part of my inner photo album.  Over the years as we grew up I realized they didn't all live worlds apart..many were just in the next county-almost all definitely within the same state of Georgia.  There were a few stragglers who wandered off to the north part of Florida.  Funny, they always came back.

When we gathered for these special times it was usually at Aunt Laura and Uncle Jack's [Mobley] place in Mershon. In front of the old farm house there was that wonderful sandy lane and between there and the first corn field with a fence was still more open space with those ever so handy Sycamore Trees...convenient for both shade and setting up tables for all the food.  There was no entertainment, no planned activities except a time when the big Birthday Cake came out and pictures were taken of groups of parents and siblings..thanks to Aunt Josephine we all have some of those pictures. She's the only one I remember who always showed up with a camera. Then in later life she spent an enormous amount of time and money making copies of all these pictures and sending them out to her nieces and nephews. 

We Mobley cousins all have most of these same memories because we were always together..of course sometimes we may conveniently forget some of the kid stuff..all of us born just before and during WWII have been blessed to have lived in the best of times in this country.  We had the hard times from which to learn and grow and the decades of plenty and bounty to make our hearts tender and thankful for such a wonderful life.  It can't get much better than that. I would not want to "wish away" the hard times when having nothing was so common-I have always been so thankful for those years.  We of my generation are better off for having those hard times. It's our children who missed out on such blessing..most of them, but especially our grands have had too much and too easy and our families and our country is now reaping the harvest. 

Now here we are settling into the 21st century with four of us [Mobley 1st cousins] already passed away and the rest of us scattered from Oregon to Ohio, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky,  with some still at home in South Georgia-Pierce county but we can't seem to realize that our time is mostly past...as my husband often says at almost 74 yrs old " he's on borrowed time now".

While we have been apart so many years it's still so sweet how there is that precious bond still there when we are together.  Now the challenge is for all of us to make the time and opportunity for quality time together. 

Time is precious~