The Donatos - my Florida family

Next month I am going to Miami Beach for a work meeting. So excited! But why am I excited? Because it will be the closest I've been to my Florida-dwelling family in quite some time.

My mother's side of the family is a large Italian brood of loving, hilarious, crazy, loud, wonderful people. My mom is the second oldest of ten. Her parents (Grandma and Gramps to me) and a good number of her siblings, as well as a bunch of her extended family live there. So I have tons of aunts and uncles and cousins running around south Fla.

Living up here in NYC, there's not as much family around. I'm an only child and so is my father. So not much extended family on the Schulze side. There's Mom and Dad, Grandma (my Dad's mom) and then Aunt Margie, Uncle Kragen and cousins Zoe and Fae (all mom's side) in NY. After that, the closest family, again Mom's side, is in Pittsburgh - Aunt Toni, Uncle Joe, cousins Matthew and Jennifer (but I think Jenn recently moved to Ohio maybe?) - and Connecticut where my mom's brother and his wife, Uncle Vinny and Aunt Dottie, live. And then my cousin Anthony is all the way out in Vegas.

So going to Florida to visit the majority of the Donatos is a bit of a shock to my only-child system but it's a welcome, loving and wonderful shock. There is just so many of them! I love each and every one of them to pieces. I miss them so much. But didn't realize how MUCH until I realized how close I'd be to them for this meeting. And how limited my time will be while I am there. I'm hoping I can spend the little bit of free time I'll have seeing some of them.

As a teenager I had the good fortune to go down to FL on my own for a week or two for a few summers. It's time I treasure. As a result I have a very strong bond with my family there. I've always been close to them but with such a distance, time spent with them is rare. Those visits combined with our family reunions gave me an opportunity to really know them and have to have strong memories to share with them.

I got to paint and draw with my Aunt Florrie and later with my cousin Arianna after she was born. I saw my cousin Anthony take his first steps and went to the beach and out to eat with Uncle Tommy while I teased him about his music. Went to movies and junkfood shopping at Publix and all kinds of places with my Aunt Frannie. Got to celebrate summer birthdays with cakes baked by my Aunt Jan. (Even huddled in the hallway with a handheld battery-operated TV during Hurricane Bob with Aunt Frannie and Aunt Jan!) I got to know my cousin Elizabeth from the time she was a tiny kid (and now she's married - oh my goodness) and spend time with her (took her to Nsync when she came to NY - ha!). Went bowling with my Uncle John and endured his so-bad-they're-funny jokes and let him tell me he was gonna "toughen that yankee up." Went to see Naked Gun 2 1/2 with Uncle Robbie where the man laughed so hard his laughter made the movie even more hilarious. I got to babysit my cousin Vincent for a little bit when he was a baby, shopped with Aunt Julie, listened to my cousin Veronica's stories about camp, and fished with Uncle Joe.

Then there are Grandma and Gramps. My grandparents are two of the most amazing people I have ever known. Their love knows no bounds. There are the center of this family. And I'm lucky to have them in my life. I'm having a hard time putting them into words and I don't know why. How to describe them? It's like trying to describe my parents. I love them so much and know them so well yet I'm having a hard time putting all that into words. Just think of the greatest people on earth and there you have it. Generous, funny, smart, and just the two most loving people, steadfast and unconditionally there for me, like my mother and father are, too.

Anyway, that's a very brief description of all of them. There's no way I'll be able to see all of them or even more than a couple of them while I'm so close by. I *am* there for work after all. LOL. But I hope they all know just how much I love and miss them. All the Donatos - in FL and elsewhere.