Rest In Peace, Uncle Mickey

We got word yesterday that my Uncle Mickey passed away.  He was 83 years old.  He was my dad's younger brother.  And he was the last of his generation on both sides of my family.  It's odd to know that I no longer have any living aunts or uncles.

Uncle Mickey had 12 children.  Every time I try to name everyone, I miss someone and I miss a different one every time.  I know the first 4 or 5, then I get lost.  I remember the last 2 because they were 2 of the 3 boys in the family.

Let's see.... Michelle, Veronica, Vincent, June, Dorothy, Victoria, Dawn, Nora, Joseph, Brian, Bernadette,  and.... see?  One is missing from my brain.  And I even cheated and went on Facebook to see who I missed.  She's not on Facebook.  It'll come to me, eventually.

It just occurred to me that me, my siblings and my cousins are all now the "older" generation of the family!  We are the aunts who attend the wedding and baby showers of our nieces.  I am not sure how that happened!  It sort of snuck up on me.

CHRISTINE!  Christine is the 12th child!  Actually she's more like 5th or 6th.  I could see her face, but I just could not get a name to the face.

There was another child in the mix, who I always thought was my cousin.  Her name is Angel.  She was a cousin of  my cousins, but not mine.  Angel's mom and my cousin's mom were sisters.  We always thought she was because I think she lived with all the others.  I guess what's one more kid in the mix when you already have 9 or 10 or 12?  As an adult now, I can see the difference in Angel from the others.  Angel is part Hispanic and everyone else is full Irish.

I was hoping to find a photo of Uncle Mickey in my cousins' profiles, but I don't see any.

Rest in peace, Uncle Mickey.  Say hi to my Mom and Dad for me.

Family Christmas Party

Yesterday we had our family Christmas Party.  It isn't often that all of my brothers and sisters can get together at the same time.  We are somewhat scattered about the country.  I have family in  Pennsylvania (where we were all born and raised), New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Indiana, Texas, North Carolina and Peru..  At some times over the years, we have had family living in Germany, Okinawa, Korea, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Panama, El Salvador, Peru, Colombia.  For now, only my sister's husband commutes back and forth to Peru for his job.


All of my brothers and sisters were able to attend.  However, some of the next generation, and even the third generation could not.  As it was, there were 33 of the 49 family members were there.  Some had to work, some live too far away.  We missed them, but we sure had a good time!


And oh boy!  Was there a lot of food!!  We opted to do just appetizers, snack foods and yummy desserts, rather than a meal.  It was a great idea!  I wish I had taken pictures of the food, but it was difficult.  Everyone would dig in as soon as a new platter was placed on the table!


I did take a few pictures... well, my favorite future son-in-law did!

Here are the eight of us!  I'm the only gal standing.

Here are some of the cousins with their significant others.

My daughter and her fiance' are on the left.  

My other 2 kids had school and/or work.

John and me!

We also have a barbecue at Peggy's in the summer too!  

Six Word Saturday

Family Christmas Party at Peggy's house!

Today is our annual Family Christmas Party.  We always have it at my sister's house, since she has the most room and we have a BIG family!  If everyone showed up, there would be 49 of us there!  This is just my siblings, their spouses, kids and, in some cases, grandkids!  As it is, I think there will be about 10 people missing.  However, my 4 brothers and 3 sisters are all supposed to be in attendance!  It's our kids who are busy getting lives and are unable to attend.  They will be missed, but we'll still have a great time! 


Want to try your own Six Word Saturday? Go see Cate at Show My Face and link up!

We are a military family

I didn't realize just how many of my family have served and are serving in the military until I posted a thank you on Facebook this morning.  My dad served in the Navy during World War II.  


When I was in high school, not a lot of kids went on to college like they do now.  If you didn't go to college, you either got a job or went into the military and earned money for college via the GI bill.  I very nearly went into the Army myself after graduation.  I had the lucky fortune to earn a full scholarship to Cosmetology school, so that's what I did instead of a career in the Army.  Who knows where life would have taken me had I not gotten that scholarship!  


Three of my four brothers went into the Marine Corps following high school graduation.  Michael served in Viet Nam, Jimmy served in Desert Storm.  Marty, the only one to make a career of the Marines and stay 20 years, managed to miss each and every conflict.  He was either in Okinawa, South Korea or in Parris Island, SC working as a Drill Instructor (he did that for 3 years.... he was there while our youngest brother and nephew went through basic training)


My sister's husband, Jim spent 29 years in the Army.  He did 2 tours in Viet Nam while with the 101st Airborne Division.  Later he went on to become an Army Ranger and finally a Green Beret with the Special Forces.  He retired in 1995 as a full Colonel.  


Two of my sister's 3 kids have served in the Army and the Marines.  Steve went into the Marines right out of high school and became a helicopter mechanic and served on the President's helicopter fleet.  He always wanted to pilot, so the Army made an offer he couldn't refuse and after 9 years with the Marines, he switched to the Army's 82nd Airbone and has been flying Blackhawks ever since (11 years)!  Steve served in Iraq, worked with the DEA in the Bahamas, chasing drug runners and he also served n Afghanistan, flying medivac.


My niece and Steve's sister, Marianne served in the Army Reserves until she had her first child.  She is an attorney by profession, so I think she did something in that field, but I'm not really sure.


Still not finished!!


John, my significant other, went to the University of Miami for 2 years right out of high school.  Then the money ran out, so he enlisted in the Army and served 20 years. Fourteen of those years with the 82nd Airborne Division and the last 6 with the Lance Nuclear Missile System.  While with the 82nd, John was part of the Grenada Invasion in 1983.  He nearly went to Iraq for Desert Storm, but his group didn't need to go. He retired in 1993.  Ironically, if I had gone into the Army like I had originally planned, John  and I would have gone through basic training at the same time!


John's son, Mark is serving in the Army with the 82nd Airborne Division.  I don't know what it is he does, but he has served 3 tours in Iraq, a tour in Haiti after the earthquake last year.  He no sooner got back to NC when they were sent to Afghanistan!  I do believe he is stateside once more.


So I have a lot of people to thank for their service to our great country!  Without men and women like these fine folks, who knows what our lives would be like today.  So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Michael, Marty, Jimmy Mack, Jim Roach, Steve, Marianne, John and Mark!