Family

Violet doesn't have much family. I know I'm often referring to "Aunts" and "Uncles" but these are really just my beautiful friends who love us and don't mind being surrogate family. Her real family is woefully small and/or disinterested. She has a wonderful Mimi who loves her to the moon and back but Mimi is Violet's only living grandparent. I have a sister who I guess is technically an Aunt but my sister has only seen Violet twice, despite living only a few hours away.

My Aunt Dinky loved Violet for the short time that she was alive after her birth, but she is gone now. My only Uncle doesn't acknowledge Violet's existence (or mine really, for that matter.) I guess since she was born out of wedlock she doesn't count. I almost blogged about a recent hurtful visit from this Uncle and his wife but I didn't want to use what little blog-time I have to focus on unkind relatives.

So this past week was EXTRA wonderful when Aunt Dinky's daughter, my cousin Kathy, came to visit for a few days. Kathy was exactly the kind of family I've been wishing we had some of. She doted and loved and took pictures and made videos and was pretty much all over Violet for the entire three days she was here. She came with bags of "treats" for Violet both from her and from her sister, my cousin Janet. Having that kind of love and affection made me realize how much I've missed it.

So here's a shout out to Kathy and to Janet. Thank you for the love and thank you for the support. We seldom see each other and our communications are few and far between but I'm awful glad you two are out there and that Violet (and I) have a little bit of family left. It matters and it means a lot.

Violet loving her Aunt Kathy