Profile Piece

Truly large families are hard to come by these days. That’s why I think being apart of a 50-cousin extended family sets me apart.

My mom is one of nine siblings, with the ages spanning over thirteen years. While it seems unique to have such a large family these days, my mom says large families were relatively normal when she was growing up. Her siblings all matched up with siblings of other large families and they would take up entire pews at church on Sundays.

Aside from having such a large family, my grandmother was also a single mother, when my grandfather suddenly passed away from a heart attack at the age of 48.

My mother is the youngest of the nine children and was born after her father had passed away. Luckily, my grandmother had received a college education and graduated with a teaching degree, which was necessary to support an entire family of children when she was suddenly left alone.

Having such strong, independent female role models in my life has shaped my personal goals and aspirations.

Also, I’ve enjoyed years of small talk with people who are technically my second cousins, but are actually older than me. I’ve heard countless stories over and over again, which change slightly every time they are told. I’ve been to numerous weddings, baby showers, and funerals. I’ve seen family members struggle with addiction, sexual orientation, and divorce. 

I think the big family is an advantage and a disadvantage. I have an entire army of people ready to like my latest Facebook picture and ask me how my life is going but they also might think that I am my older sister.

Then again, I have an uncle who works at a prominent scientific institute in Paris, France. I have a cousin who works at the Washington Post. I have numerous legal consultants in two uncles and three cousins. I have a cousin working at Nike and a cousin doing public relations for the W Hotel in New York City. The sheer magnitude of knowledge, wisdom, and connections available to me in the form of uncles and aunts is enormous if I ever truly need it.

When my grandmother passed away in 2004 at the age of 84, the church was filled with over 400 people.

I think the experience of a larger-than-life family is something unexplainable. It is just a look exchanged by cousins when someone brings their significant other to the family Christmas party for the first time: a mix of pity, judgment, and hilarity at the poor stranger being introduced for the first time.