Family is one of those complicated things. I have not always been close with mine. Extended family were around when I was younger, but they were never a huge part of my life especially in my teen and adult years. No one person’s fault, life just works out that way. I was also in a weird age bracket. I was the oldest by a lot (my brother not included) of my first cousins. The extended cousins were either much, much older or much, much younger. Now, as I’m nearing 30, my cousins view me as an adult like them [yay, finally!!!], or I get to be the fun much older cousin.
In March, I went on a cruise for my Grandma’s 80th birthday. I hadn’t seen the aunts, uncles, or cousins in about fourteen years. I fell a little bit in love with them. While I was there, I was invited to my great aunt’s 80th birthday party in Maryland over Memorial Day weekend. The cousins I stayed with in Germany – eight years ago – throw an annual crawfish boil, which made the perfect birthday gathering.
I would just like to inform you, my family has this ‘All Are Welcome’ attitude. I found out I come by that trait genetically. There was a swirl of cousins, aunts, uncles, relatives by marriage, friends, and strangers. As an introvert, I am not comfortable in crowds but I also hate feeling like an outsider. I hadn’t seen a lot of my family in a very long time, but they never made me feel like I wasn’t included. I wanted my bestie to see my grandma and also because I wanted someone to be able to lean on and know in a crowd. My family made her feel right at home and kept our plates well stocked.
This part of my family hails from New Orleans. I spent a huge amount of time there growing up, so it feels like home for me too. They moved all across the country; many are on the East coast. New Orleans is known for food. There’s nothing quite as Louisiana as a crawfish boil. Almost 200 pounds of crawfish were brought in fresh and consumed. I can’t really explain the scale of this party because it was immense. My great aunt is loved, so she brought in a crowd. My cousins are loved and make friends everywhere they go. Throughout the course of the afternoon, there had to have been close to 200 people at the party. Everyone had a blast and ate their fill of crawfish, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, corn, and mushrooms. I’m a fan of crawfish boils. Enjoying one surrounded by family made it even better.
The food was amazing. The fun was even better. It’s been a long time since I have been to a party quite like that. Even longer since I was surrounded by family. I had a blast. I can’t wait to make it next year.
