Pop's Brothers and Sisters

Every year some of Pop's brothers drive up after Christmas for a short visit.

They usually bring their kids along with them and it's a fun way to end the year. I've missed out on seeing them a lot in the past years. I was the first in my family to stop visiting Nebraska and early Thanksgiving due to college and work. Then I got married, bought a house, had a kid....all things that don't typically give you more time and freedom to travel.

Carrie, Shane and I got to see them Friday, so it made me a little nostalgic.

Here I am writing about it.

I could write a book on my family history (maybe even a blog). There are oodles and oodles of pictures and stories and then that links to cousins and more stories!

I don't want to write until my keyboard cracks, so I figured I'd keep it short. What are the first memories I have when I think of Pop's brothers and sisters? What are the first quickest things I can type out?

Uncle Kevin & Dennis (Combined): 
Every year we visited North Carolina for 'Early Thanksgiving' my parents would rent a hotel room.

My parents always picked the same hotel, because it had the best pool.

The uncles would hop in and fling all of the kids around with velocities that would cause helicopter parents to lift off.

And we loved it.

We would swarm them. We would try to take out their legs. They'd take turns hurling us like javelins. They didn't go easy on us and that only made us try harder and harder. Whenever one went down (momentarily) we would all cheer even if we were the airborne (they worked in twos!).

This continued well into my early teens.

Uncle Dennis (Solo):
Most of my Dad's family is athletic in some fashion. Uncle Dennis is the one I've always identified as being the most 'in' to sports. Both of his boys are sportsy, too. Dennis always stuck out in my mind as being a talker and a joker, too. He was quick with a tease (in good sport) and had stories ta boot. The only story that I can think of right now is more current. It involves my cousin Kyle as a baby singing over the intercom and only too late did Dennis realize what the lyrics were....

But that's Dennis' story! It's hilarious, but his to tell.

This is probably odd, but for some reason I've always felt Dennis' voice sounded the most like I hear my own. I'm not even sure it's true, but the memory/thought/whatever it is is there.

Uncle Kevin (Solo):
Uncle Kevin was always famous for rough-housing. When we were little, he'd dangle us from a foot (playing "bat!") and when we were older he'd wrestle. In 7th grade, I jumped on his back and I swear he squeezed me so hard it bruised a rib. It hurt for a week! I was right back in it again soon enough.

One of my earliest memories of Kevin was he was a gamer. He played the old, old school Nintendo games. I was having trouble beating Final Fantasy. He recommended I buy 99 potions (the max allowed) before venturing into the final dungeon.

It worked like a charm. I was in Texas upstairs in the playroom in the memory and it was before the Super Nintendo came out. I must have been in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time, but no age is attached to my memory. Just dawning comprehension.

Aunt Mary:
Aunt Mary visiting meant that Chris and Stephie were around. However unfairly, most of my memories of her are blurred by playing with her children. I remember the summer Grandpa Vern stuck Chris and I in the back "trunk" of a golf cart and drove us to a local playground (bumping all the way). Then there was another summer we checked out books on ninjas from the local library. We ran around the house trying to act them out and spy on the girls with our newfound stealth skills.

The other memories I have of Aunt Mary are related to quilts. I had a quilt growing up that she made. Bits of the pattern and the colors still stick out in my mind. She made another quilt for Carrie and I, but since I can go down and wrap myself in it I don't count it as "memory."

Uncle Jim:
Uncle Jim wins the "I remember visiting him in the most different places and we usually went to a baseball game while we were there!" award. I used to cheer on the Texas Rangers (and Nolan Ryan) when he lived in Texas. We saw a Tigers game when we visited him in Detroit one year. I think we went to a minor league game in the Carolinas, but I'm a bit fuzzy on whether or not he was there or if it was with the other Carolina branch of the family. Memory is a funny thing. I associate baseball games with visiting Uncle Jim.

Uncle Jim also sticks out in my memory as a big time reader and chess guru. I remember thinking as a kid "I'd love to beat Uncle Jim at chess! That'd show how smart I am!"

Guess what's never happened?

Aunt Beth:
Aunt Beth will forever be linked in my mind to "I'm not pointing! I'm not pointing!" It cracks me up to this day. If you know the story and you know Nana you'll know why.

Whenever I think of Aunt Beth I also think of Grandpa Vern's "Lee sisters" routine, books (and the awe I felt realizing she read all the 'cool' ones), Nebraska, and lots and lots of laughing. She grew up as the youngest, so she got plenty of teasing from all the older jokers and by the time the nephews and nieces came around she was good at it. She also had the dirt on all the uncles and my dad growing up ("Pop did what?!"). I think of Nebraska, because that's where she lives in her family. Visiting Nebraska was synonymous with hanging out with her and eventually her husband and kids (though once again I was the first in the family to start missing the yearly trip. When her youngest, Claire, saw me after many years she thought I was 'serious.' Ha!)

Aunt Beth posts on here, so I guess I should write a "Aunt B is the best aunt I've ever had" disclaimer!

Uncle Matt:
None of my brothers or sisters have met Uncle Matt. He died while still a toddler. I've asked about him before and been told the story, but once I was told I don't think I ever asked for it to be told again or asked questions to fill in any gaps. Some memories stay sad and you move forward. I bring him up, because he does have an impact on my life. My brother, Matt's, name is a deathbed promise from my mom to my Grandma Evelyn. Nana told Grandma E that if she had another boy she'd name him after her lost son.

It's a sad memory, but it has stuck in my head the value of a name and of a promise. It's probably one of the first stories I know that also told the young me that life isn't permanent: treasure your family while you have them.

Conclusion:
I started with the two trouble-making Uncles who were at Nana and Pop's house and tried to go in age-order from that point on. Aunt Mary is an 'Irish twin' with Pop, so I know she's the second oldest. I always get confused/mixed up on whether Dennis or Kevin is older. It's kind of sad. You would have thought I'd have something that simple down by my third decade in the family. So many of my memories of those two are intertwined, though (they even wore the same mustaches for years).

I'll probably think of 1,000,000,001 things I could have written now that I've jotted down these thoughts.

Some other night, perhaps.