Family

I just got an email from my sister to tell me that one of my cousins has died. She actually learned of her death from the obituary in the local newspaper; neither of my cousin's two sisters contacted any of us. We only have the three (now two) cousins; my mother was one of seven children, and she was the only one who had children of her own. On my father's side of the family, he had one brother, who had 3 daughters, each born 7 years apart. So one would think we might be a little closer, but not really. I have to say that the youngest daughter, who still lives in my old hometown, is one of the stranger people I've known. In fact, she's downright unpleasant half the time. When her mother died, none of us knew about it for several days. My sister actually had to contact the local cops to go check because we'd heard a rumour that Aunt Margaret had died but we couldn't contact any of the girls. They didn't have a funeral, didn't have any kind of memorial service, and never acknowledged our cards of sympathy. I was saddened by this because Aunt M. was my favourite aunt. Now her oldest daughter has died, and I have no idea from what, or when. Mind you, I haven't seen or spoken with her for over 30 years, so I guess it's not that I'd be the first one to know. At least all my siblings talk to each other (most of the time - my brothers are not the best communicators, but at least they try).

Families can be very strange.