http://www.bocktriplets.org/articles/2007/07/30/the-perspective-of-family en-us 40 Outnumbered on Day One <p><img src="http://www.bocktriplets.org/files/mathewnJen.jpg"></p> <p>That is a picture of Matthew and his lovely bride, Jen. They were married this past Saturday. Matthew is my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin">first cousin, once removed</a>, and he has given me an interesting perspective on my own kids.</p> <p>In my family, I&#8217;m the youngest in my generation. I have cousins who are anywhere from 7 to 20+ years older than I am, and as a result, I have always been the &#8216;kid&#8217; at family gatherings.</p> <p>When all my cousins started having kids, I was stuck in the middle between two generations. For countless holidays, weddings, and other special events, I was at the &#8216;kids table&#8217;, entertaining kids in the play room, and so on.</p> <p>Matthew is the oldest in that generation, and I can clearly remember seeing him shortly after birth. I don&#8217;t want to say &#8216;it seems like yesterday&#8217;, but in the thousands of days that have past since then, that one seems closer than most.</p> <p>Two years ago he graduated from the Naval Academy, and this past weekend he got married.</p> <p>This makes me both excited to see my own kids grow up and afraid of how fast it will happen.</p> Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:16:00 -0400 urn:uuid:08e64926-0edf-4aa2-8279-6887415d748e David Bock http://www.bocktriplets.org/articles/2007/07/30/the-perspective-of-family