What's the story ?

My mother came from a family with ten children. Seven girls and three boys. That wasn't unusual for the times. Why Mrs. McQuire across the way had twenty. Grandma didn't have twins or anything so the ages varied widely. As a small boy I had been in the upstairs of Grandmas house and believe me it was small. Only three bedrooms if memory serves . There was no heat or plumbing of any kind up there. My own mother spoke little of living there. She did tell me she can remember the out house. It was a three holer ! Used to sit where the grape arbor is now.
Growing up in a small town you would think we all knew each other. The cousins I mean, but that isn't the case at all. Most, I barely knew at all. In fact some were total strangers. We often talk of what a small world it is. Many times,especially in small towns, we complain about it. But at least for me I was unaware of the majority of my relatives. Almost all of Moms brothers and sisters lived right around there. A bunch of my cousins went to the same school as I did. Some I even shared classes with. Yet somehow, all this went right by.
The two sisters that my Mom would visit the most often were married but had no children. Whether this was by choice or fate I do not know. I had at least one Uncle in town that was married and had a bunch of children. Eleven I think. I would hear tales about them but never really knew any of them. I don't recall ever going to his house. There was an Aunt in Sag Harbor, a town about seven miles away. I vaguely remember going there as a small child. I think she has children or at least one child. Another Aunt lived in town but we didn't see her often. She had two older children and a younger one. They were all years apart from me in school so I didn't know them well either.
I've been working on the family tree for years now. I still don't have a complete listing of my first cousins. The latest census to be released is the 1940 census. If you were born after that I don't know about you. Mom doesn't even know them all. And Mom is the last of that generation in my immediate family. All her brothers and sisters are gone. My own father had a brother that had two girls. They lived in Chicago. I met them once. I was going to school at the Great Lakes Naval Training center and traveled to the city to visit them. I have no idea about them now. Dad also had two half brothers. They both have children. The one brother, Pete, had two girls and a boy. Sadly, I can't say I knew them well. Two of them have tragically passed on. One daughter remains and I do speak with her occasionally via facebook. As to his other brother I understand he has a daughter. I have been unsuccessful in contacting her.
And so that's the way it goes. Sometimes you don't see things that are the closest to you. On television you see family reunions. All the cousins getting together and sharing good times. Playing together and grieving together. All those " hallmark memories. " I wish it were so. The why it isn't so I'll probably never know either. That secret is being held by Mom. And rightly so,it is hers to keep.
Had my mother more closely associated with her siblings, how different might I have grown up ? What influences might have acted upon me ? I would most certainly have had a different point of view. I can not help but wonder about the back story. Now that would be some interesting reading !