We made our way to our extended family base in Detroit a couple of weeks ago for my cousin's high school graduation. The city itself still appears to be falling apart, but it did provide us the perfect setting (especially for Mateo and Nico) to get away for a few days and reconnect with family we don't often see. What I love most about gatherings like this is that no matter how much time has passed, there's just a comfortability, an ease that just blankets everything. The boys were beside themselves to spend time with their older second cousins who adore them. At my uncle's Canadian cottage in Colchester, my boys couldn't sit still for a second between skipping rocks in Lake Erie, blowing bubbles, kicking soccer balls, playing hide and seek, getting piggyback rides, and helping their great-grandfather blow out his birthday candles. None of us even really minded the mosquitos. At least in the moment.
It made me long for a time when extended families were a part of your everyday community. Where you know your children are among those who love them unconditionally, embrace them no matter who they are, and are always game for something. While Mateo and Nico's own generation of cousins are indeed across the country, I know they will still feel that same comfort of family in small doses just when they need it most.