Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Family Connections through Blogging

I have lots of cousins. How many? I always thought the number was 51 first cousins! The other day I sat down to list them and found to my surprise (and shame) that I couldn't remember all their names.  So, I'm working on putting together a list of them.  They mostly live in Houston, Texas, and I don't see them much, so it's harder than I thought. 
Luckily, I have reconnected with two of my Houston cousins this year (one on my mom's side of my family and one on my dad's side of the family), and I have sent them emails to see if they can help. The funny thing is that I have reconnected with them through this blog! I started my blog in a Shimelle class and my main audience has always been folks from that initial class.  Over time, some of my local friends and immediate family have started to follow and stop by occasionally. And I am thrilled that some of my more distant cousins are now in the mix.  My favorite recent discovery (courtesy of my cousin Rose) is the identity of the little girl in today's art journal page.  I use her a lot - you usually see her standing on a chair. I always assumed it was someone not directly related to me - someone from my Uncle's side of the family.  But it turns out it's actually my cousin, Buggie (Okay - her real name is Antoinette. Can you blame everyone for calling her Buggie? By the way, it's pronounced with a long U vowel sound and with a southern accent, so it sounds more like boogie.)  And that's her father, my Uncle Tony - my mother's eldest brother - standing next to the car.  I always knew his identity, and now I get to connect the two!  That makes me really happy. Have you connected with any distant family through your blog?

13 comments:

Winnie said...

Wow! That's a lot of cousins! It's great to hear that you've connected with some of your cousins through your blog. :D

scrappyjacky said...

An amazing number of cousins,Rinda. It's great that you've managed to find some of them again through the blog.
My family doesn't really read my blog....most don't even know about it....though the DDs do sometimes glance at it with horror when they see pics of themselves. I remind them of the photos they have on Facebook....but they inform me that "at least only our friends can see those,anyone can see yours"....very true I s'pose!!

Amy said...

I am really surprised by the number of family members (my side only) who read the blog, at my brother's recent wedding my aunties were all chatting about what I posted and I had no clue that Mum had even told them .... they never comment obvioulsy! I am unaware of distant relatives reading but immediate family, some close friends and my aunties are out there and over at our place!

I really love how you use all your family photos in your art Rinda, and it is fantastic that now you can put a name to the gorgeous 'Buggie' :-)

JO SOWERBY said...

wow i have 2 cousins and 3 2nd cousins. i havent linked with family on the blog yet but hopefully in the future i may. there are loads of distant rellies in canada i would like to find out about but my granny had all those contacts and not me,
Jo xxx

Cheri said...

It is so great that you are able to make the connections Rinda! My immediate family doesn't even read my blog, so I'm pretty sure none of my extended family does. And that was true even when I used to publish the posts to facebook!

Sian said...

I've alwys loved "Buggie" and I like her even more now that I know her name!

My brother and sister read my blog - sometimes I think I'm really writing for them to remind them of the good times we have had. But we don't have a lot of other family. I have couple of friends from school who drop by occasionally to see what I'm up to.

laurie said...

that little girl is so darn cute! how fun that you now know who she is, making the photo all that more special.

Mommy2CVC said...

Wow! I've always loved that little girl you used and it so cool to find out who she is. Wasn't she in your parents wedding too? I remember hearing her name a lot. Can't wait to see you guys unless I have a coronary by then!!

Alison said...

I only have five cousins, and I hardly ever see THEM..I'd never be able to keep up with 51!!!!
Alison xx

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I've heard from some distant cousins through my blog. I sometimes do a Saturday Scan where I post old family photos with full names (since my name is not the same) & I've had a few people who were doing genealogy contact me. They are descendants of siblings of my direct ancestors. It's been really neat to connect with them.

Denise said...

You certainly have a lot of cousins.I've got quite a lot too but I haven't connected with any relatives through my blog,only Facebook x

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, how neat is that being able to reconnect through your blog. My sister & I have lost contact with most of our 1st cousins except for 2. They're all a lot older than the 2 of us - we're more in the age group of the next generation. So great that you've got a name now for that little girl and how she fitss into the family.

Lizzie said...

Isn't that lovely, that you now know who the sweet little girl really is?

I talk to a couple of my cousins on Facebook, also my sister, nieces and nephew; however only one niece has a blog. The others all think "Blog" is a foreign word and they are not interested (though my sister has commented - verbally - that she's read a post on my blog, once or twice). One day, perhaps...