Family



Family

When I was a small girl my family consisted of my mother and father, my brother Rob, and later, my sister, Beth. There were also my grandparents, both Stratton and Monroe, my aunts and uncles, and cousins, Stratton and French. This was my universe and I was happy in it. I heard stories of the family that had gone before and were no more and those who lived elsewhere.

As I grew up and older I lamented the loss of those I loved and continue to love so much and I began to wonder if my family, my universe, would dwindle down to none but me. This depression started with the loss of my uncle Gardner Stratton and continued through my mother’s death. I guess I expected to have my grandparents pass away but when my parents’ generation began to fall away I really was not ready to become part of the most senior generation of my family. As a single person with no children it seemed that the family was shrinking rapidly.

A wonderful thing has happened. I have become more aware of the wider reach of my family. As I came up from the depths of my grief and worked through it I realized that I had young cousins who had never known our shared grandparents. This book was started for them. I realized that I had the memories of Grandma and Grandpa Monroe from the perspective of grandchild that I could pass on to my young cousins along with the history of family recipes collected, used and preserved by our grandmother and now by me. If I manage to complete this project they can have my memories and some of my connection to our shared history.

Thanks to the persistence and warmth of my cousin Dorothy Nichols Grant who has reestablished the family relationship that existed between her father and my mother from their childhood, my sense of family and the wellbeing that family brings has expanded. She would not allow the subtle drift apart that came about simply by distance to break those bonds and for that I am eternally grateful. We share an intense interest in family and genealogy; preservation of photos and documents; and the rediscovery of family stories. It helps to make sense of whom and how we are now.

I am writing this while enjoying a long-anticipated vacation with my father and staying in the wonderful home loaned to us by Dorothy and Richard Grant. It is hard to drag my eyes away from the view of the ocean to focus on the page. Their home reflects the couple. It is easy, welcoming and comforting. It is filled with collections of photos, books and other things that catch your eye and demand closer attention. We are as much at home here as in our own. Despite all the distractions, crises, and challenges, life is good and my attitude to and expectation of the future is changing for the better due entirely to the persistence of family.

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