Who are those old people?

Today brought the memorial service of a cousin, the elder child of my mother's middle sister. Cousin Laura, even after "getting religion" in her old age, retained traces of the spirited, multiply-divorced lounge singer and cocktail waitress she had been during part of her youth. (She was an original Wild Child.)

My maternal grandmother bore thirteen children between 1899 and 1924, nine of whom lived, and all of whom reproduced. I have lots of first cousins, some of whom I never met, and some of whom are now in their nineties, if they're still alive. Five of the "younger" of us (ranging in age from 57 to 74) were at today's service, along with Laura's middle-aged grandchildren and adult great-grandchildren (!). Three of us had literally not seen each other for forty-five years, when I was in middle school. We recognized each other only because of the strong resemblance to our parents at similar ages. This was a very strange moment.

Time passes much too fast, dear ones.  It still feels like summer, but the leaves are turning. Don't forget to enjoy the show.