Cousins are close family members. At least, it seems they should be close. Many are not.

The sons and daughters of our uncles and aunts shared childhood with us. After our parents, uncles, and aunts are gone, cousins are our best link to family memories. Cousins can tell us things about ourselves that we do not know or don’t recall. We can do the same for them.

Keeping an extended family together is a shared responsibility requiring effort by all parties. It must not be worth that effort to some. We lose a lot when we lose our cousins. Why do we let it happen?

Personal Note: As a child, I could count seventeen cousins. My father’s three brothers had three children between them. My mother’s eight siblings had fourteen.

Early in life, eight cousins retreated from the family circle for reasons known only to them. In adulthood, a couple of the others slowly drifted away. Two have died and others may have.

Today, I know the whereabouts of eight of my cousins. However, I now feel close to only two of them. What happened to our family?