This year has been a very rough one for my family. My aunt had a stroke last Christmas day and died this March, a couple days before my birthday in April. My cousin, failed out of school, lost her job, and broke up with her long-time boyfriend. Another cousin also lost his job. Might not seem like much but when your mother has just died, I imagine each loss feels like a thousand.
Thanksgiving this year was a very sobering experience. There are just 7 of us, SEVEN, left. My mom and dad who are both 68, myself (28), my uncle (73), and my 3 cousins (43, 41, 38). None of my cousins are married or have any kids. Sitting around the dinner table we all avoided the pink elephant in the room.
Later that evening my mom and I were talking about my girlfriend and I. I was telling her about how close my girlfriend and her family are and how she was always wanting me to do stuff with them but I didn’t want to. She kept saying, “maybe you need to try” and I kept listing reasons why I didn’t want to and we kept going back and forth until my mom said this:
“You’re getting older now and maybe it’s time you try to make your own family or be a part of another one. After all, there isn’t many of us left and we won’t be around too much longer and I’d hate to have you spend the holidays alone after we’re gone.”
It was the single saddest thing I’d ever heard my mother say.
