A Love Lost

I had a bowl of soup for dinner. Organic Lentil Vegetable Soup. From a box. And a Modelo. From a bottle. I don’t know why soup from a box is any stranger than soup from a can. My Grandmother Kitty Cooper, who were she living would now be 112, would have thought it strange to have soup from anything but your own hands made with your own ingredients.

I had a bowl of soup for dinner because I didn’t have anything else and didn’t want to go out for groceries or pre-fab food. I’ve stayed in the last few days. I’ve been thinking a lot about one of my first cousins. My Mom had three brothers and a sister, and from them I have 16 cousins, with maybe only about 15 years separating us oldest to youngest. We all have a few cousins within a year or two of each of us. I have Rick, Cheryl and Elaine (sisters), Glynn, and Bill. I’m right about in the middle of that three year spread.

More than half of my cousins (and all my siblings) went to Baylor. In my sophomore year, there were, counting my Aunt Thelma and Uncle Bill, nine of us enrolled or teaching at Baylor. Every Thursday night we gathered at Bill and Thelma’s for salad, casserole or spaghetti, Bill’s homemade bread and maybe brownies. We could also bring friends or roommates. As wonderful as the meal was, it was the chance to get together as a family and take the piss out of each other that fed us as much as Bill and Thelma’s cooking. God help you if…