Love Locks

Another topic I had been debating on whether or not to "put out there" is about one of my family members. My mother is part of a very large family. She is child number 10 of 15. And we are all fairly close. I mean, the majority of us all lived in the same local area during my childhood. Several of us cousins (my mom's nieces and nephews) all grew up together in batches. We have a yearly family tradition: Christmas party slash family reunion and every year, we have an updated phonebook. I was thumbing through it this year and kept asking Mom, "Well, who is this?" It's that large... This is strange to me. Growing up together, but not knowing further extensions of the family and the 4th or 5th generation. I wouldn't know quite a few of them on sight alone.

A portion of our family has started a little tradition of their own. Every Sunday, they get together and cook lunch or supper. My mom goes. Two of my aunts are there. A few cousins and their kids. When I'm in town on Sundays, I make a point for me and Ivy to go and visit. This is precious time for us. After one of my aunts had passed away, I realized that I needed to make an effort for us to spend more time with family.

We decided on a whim to visit family for the three day weekend. We always tell Ivy who we are going to see and she is excited. And as per usual, we attended the Sunday lunch. Ivy was excited to see Aunt Wanda, Aunt Sandra, BJ and her kiddos, baby cousin Bentley, Uncle Chuck and of course, NaNa and Pops. I am so glad we can sit and visit. It almost feels like the "old times."

Facebook keeps me updated on what is going on in my family. I recently found out (within the past 6 months) that Aunt Wanda has breast cancer. She had surgery to remove the mass. She went through chemo and radiation. They found two more masses. She is currently on her third round of chemo I think. And her hair has fallen out.

While we were there today, Ivy and Aunt Wanda were outside. I suppose Aunt Wanda took off her hat to show Ivy because they came in and my aunt told me that my darling little child wanted to cut off her hair and give it to her Aunt Wanda. My sweet, thoughtful, generous three-year-old baby wants to donate her thick, strawberry blonde, straight-with-a-luscious-curl-at-the-end hair that was dark brown at birth to our precious aunt.

We will, Ivy. We will both grow our hair out and donate it.