50th Anniversary

Saturday I attended an open house in honor of the 50th wedding anniversary of my cousin, Glen Roberts and his wife Mary Lou (nee) Kingery. Glen is the oldest living of my first cousins. He is 70. (His older brother, Larry, died from cancer five years ago.)
Glen is the son of my Mom's elder sister, Evelyn and her husband, Howard Roberts. They had the two boys followed by four girls. All four sisters were in attendance along with some of their children and grandchildren. And, of course, Glen & MaryLou's four kids, spouses, grandkids, etc. My how families do grow!
It is always good to see my cousins; this time at a happy occasion instead of a funeral. Being with them inevitably brings up memories from our childhood.
Staying at Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Howard's was my first experience of homesickness. I was o.k. until bedtime, then I wanted my mommy. After listening to me cry for awhile, one of the girls gave me a musical teddy bear to sleep with. Several windings and listenings to the tinkle of the song finally put me to sleep.
In my mind, that visit gets wrapped up with later ones when I was older. After thinking about what age I must have been, I have decided Aunt Evelyn took care of my brother and me when Mom was in the hospital for a week the summer of 1947. I would have been almost four.
We spent a lot of time with our cousins - usually at family dinners at Grandpa and Grandma Ridnour's. Even though Larry was the eldest, Glen was the instigator of all the shenanigans we pack of kids got up to. Grandpa's hay was rearranged many times as we built tunnels in the haymow. Our parents allowed us to go rabbit and squirrel hunting with real rifles and no adults. We played on the ice on the pond without checking to see if it was thick enough.
One summer when Ron & I were staying with the Robert's, it rained all day. After tiring of sliding down the pasture hill in the mud, we decided to dam up the water going through a tube under the road. We had the up flow side pretty well dammed up when Larry and I decided to go into the tube from the other end to check for leaks. The dam broke while we were in the tube. Somehow we managed to get out without drowning!
Another memory is one of us going hand fishing in the west branch of the Nodaway River. We were all at Aunt Evelyn's, including Grandpa & Grandma and Mom's younger sister, Lois, and her family. After dinner, the men and most of we cousins walked through the cornfield down to the river. It was summer and the river wasn't very high - easily waded by even the youngest. The men and older boys were checking out the deep pools, trying to catch catfish by hand. I still remember how grandpa got ahold of one and grabbed off his good brown felt hat to use to scoop the fish into it. I'm sure grandma gave him whatfor for ruining his hat.
My Mom used to talk about the fun she and her sisters had with their first cousins; Aunt Florence and Uncle Tom's nine kids. I think I have some idea what her memories must have been like - much like mine are of times shared with my first cousins. I hope my children and nieces and nephews have some similar memories although I don't see how they could be as good as mine!
I'm grateful for the memories and glad Glen and MaryLou were able to celebrate 50 years together. Not many of us will be that privileged.