Family planning was not yet an issue 50 to 60 years ago. May be that is one reason why my mother had 11 siblings. They are 14 in the family including my grandparents. My mom was 10th in the family and was the youngest daughter. She has seven brothers and four more sisters. Because they are too many, her youngest brother was even younger than her first nephew. Many of them, including her, married late, unlike my grandparents who married each other at a very young age. I am the second child of my parents. We are just four in the family, including my parents. Even if we’re not that many, still I can feel that I have so many siblings. I have 36 cousins in my mom’s side. My eldest cousin is 44 years old and the youngest is seven years old. Despite our large number and age gaps, we’re still close and we have our bonding times. I have many cousins who are already married. As a result, I have 41 nephews and nieces. I actually have a niece which is a lot older than me and even in my elder sister. I call her ‘ate’ and she also calls me ‘ate’, because I don’t want any of my niece or nephew call me ‘tita’. Besides, how can a 25 year old woman call a seven year old kid ‘tita’? And the funny truth is I also have a granddaughter in my niece, which also means that my youngest cousin, which is only seven years old, also has a granddaughter. This incident is just a repetition of what happened in my mother’s generation where my uncle was even younger than my eldest cousin.
Because we are so many, misunderstanding can’t be avoided, but still, we’re happy we’re this many. Our motto in our family is, ‘The more, the merrier!’
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