On family,cousins and such

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call I was not prepared for. "Jack, this is Susan, Louie and Verna's daughter. My brother Joe died this afternoon from complications of pneumonia". Uncle Louie was my mom's younger brother. To hear that my cousin Joe had died, at the age of 54, which is 5 years younger than me was a shock. I passed the word along to my 4 sisters, and some other cousins from that side of the family. We were very close on that side, most of the holidays were spent with them. I had lost a cousin (Carol) to cancer about 20 years ago, but this...........
As I said the cousins on my mom's side were close. Marge, my oldest sister, then Shirley, then Charlotte, my next two older sisters, then Carol, her brother John, myself, Paul, (Carol and John's brother), Dick (my brother who died in an accident at the age of 12), Joe, his sister Susan, his brother Jim, and sister Peggy. We were like stepping stones in ages. My mom had and older brother, but he moved to Australia, and we never really knew his kids until we got older and they moved to Minnesota. I really couldn't tell you all their names. But the Meyman, Powell, Fitzgerald bunch...........close. We saw each other regularly. Then of course we all grew up, went to college or the service, got married and moved to parts across the US. But we are working on getting the closeness back. Joe's death was a wake up call for all of us. I call John about once a month, I think I'll call Paul more often too. Marge, my oldest sister is not only the matriarch, but the family historian. Now we don't always remember the things the same way.........Dad did not drive school bus.........but there are memories to cherish, to share. I hope to do this. My New Year's resolution this year is to maintain better contact with my cousins. In fact there are some on Dad's side I got to get hold of too. Gotta go, there is a list of people for me to call, I better get busy.