Monday, May 27, 2013

My cousin Lynn, RIP


 Lynn Rowland, April 11, 1952 - May 8, 2013

Cousin - friend - cohort- fun person to be around. Family. Making fun of family. Laughing in that deep booming throaty sexy voice. My cousin, my sister. My cousin. My friend.

My grandfather married her grandmother when we were both eleven. The grandchildren picture says it all, 7 of us posing (at Bachrach's!) all dressed up and smiling. While our mothers sipped sherry in the vestibule "To take the edge off."

Lynn was exactly six months older than me, to the day. In that picture she'd reached puberty and I still had pigtails. We were connected from that moment on. And forever.

What to say about my cousin. That she was smart, funny, loving, real. That you knew where you stood. That she was honest, kind, appreciative. Musically and artistically talented.

She was brave. She was forthright. She was concerned. She loved her parents deeply. Happy the last years of her life were spent up in Maine, near them, caring for and being cared for. A gift for all of them.

She called me at the beginning of May, or maybe it was April.
 "Coz, I've been thinking of you, are you okay?"

I am more than okay, but she wasn't.
I'm so glad we spoke. And that I sent her one more photograph of the backyard where we'd grown up and hung out together.

I miss her.

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