Growing up with eight brothers and four sisters, I never dreamed how large and widespread our family would become over time. Differences in age and large geographical distances between us have been the barrier to maintaining relationships with some of my siblings. Staying connected to loved family members and dear friends has become a little easier with Facebook and Skype. Facebook has helped to renew old relationships and keep up with new family members as time marches on.
My many nieces and nephews are now having their own families, being notified via Facebook with real-time pictures and announcements makes all the difference. It was often several months or years between a birth announcement and pictures-sent to grandma to be shared with the many aunts, uncles & cousins. I was not able to attend the wedding of one of my nephews in Chicago, but was able to see pictures within a few weeks of the event. When we do get the opportunity to visit them, we will feel more connected than if we’d never seen the wedding pictures of their most special day.
Having the picture and name on Facebook has helped my children not only recognize their many cousins, but to form stronger bonds through writing and face to face Skyping. One night, my husband and I came home from a dinner date out to find our children (ages 15, 12 & 12) Skyping with their California cousins. When they see these cousins again, or finally meet them in person, they will know who they are, and who their parents are.
On a summer visit to my brother in New Hampshire and his family a few years ago, we stopped in to visit my best childhood friend. We ended up feasting on Maine lobster, and so now my dear friend and her family are known as the “lobster family”. These meals and activities shared with friends and family tighten the connection and make great memories.
My siblings and I got reacquainted with our female first cousins through Facebook. My sisters and the cousins (there are eight of us) all met up for a girls weekend in the Bay Area last July. We had such a great time catching up and sharing stories of our parents and grandparents. I joined the cousins twenty-six years ago for a family wedding in Colorado. The rest of my siblings had not seen them since our Grandma’s funeral thirty-seven years prior in Maine. Even the many decades between visits did not sever the deep-rooted family connections.
Over the last several years my niece and her children have stopped in on their way down to visit the Carolina Cousins. Last year we traveled to her home near Plymouth Rock to have Thanksgiving dinner. My children always look forward to these visits from their little second cousins. How exciting to have so many relatives in so many places! Nice to know it is easier to stay in contact with my family & friends wherever they are and no matter how many miles separate us. I know a chat with them on Facebook, looking at current pictures and Skyping face to face, are just a few moments away.