A record-breaking family

How many people do you know who have a family that belongs in The Guiness Book of World Records? One, maybe, if you know me! (Dozens, if you know my family...)

A while back, some of my relatives on my mom's side were chatting about the possibility that her family might be the -- hmm, I don't know the category name, much less how to explain it. So let me just say --  my mom's parents had twelve children and they're all still living, a few of the eldest in their eighties, and the youngest just a few months shy of his first pension cheque. (Really, Uncle Len? So hard to believe! None of you are over 60 in my mind!) If I've figured it correctly, their collective age (as of this moodling) equals 887 years (belated Happy Birthday, Auntie Kay! And Happy Birthday today, Auntie Lucy! And Happy Birthday early, Uncle Rudy!) 887 years is only 82 less than Methuselah, the oldest guy in the bible, ha!

On my wedding day, this photo was taken of Grandma and her 7 daughters and five sons... and more than twenty years later, though we lost Grandma (centre) in 1996, the rest are still going strong. They're a mostly healthy bunch (with good genes) that grew up on a Saskatchewan farm before the age of technology, chemical food additives and other things that threaten the health of our species today. Even so, what are the odds that they've all survived to the present? (Especially when I hear the stories my farm boy hubby tells about the dangerous things he and his brothers got into out on the farm as kids!) It strikes me how fortunate we are as a family, living in the developed world with a good healthcare system (that a few of this bunch have relied upon for different serious health issues over the years) -- Canada has a much lower overall mortality rate than most other countries where this family could have been born.

Of course, we have no way of knowing that there isn't another, larger family somewhere in the world who are older and all still living. But it really doesn't matter because my relatives are a humble group, and aren't interested in making -- or breaking -- any world records. I hear that a few of my generation looked into what it would take to get them into The Guiness Book, but it seems they're not all that interested.

Regardless, this is a world record family in my books, and not just because of their collective age or the fact that they and their spouses had 77 children among them (yes, I have lots of cousins). My uncles and aunts are all warm and wonderful people, strong in their faith in God in spite of life's challenges, wise beyond their years, full of humour and kindness, and each one has given my generation and me many special memories. Their husbands and wives, children, children-in-law, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren know that they're the world's best oldest all-living family members from one set of parents, and while that might be close to the actual category name, we know them more simply as some of our very favourite people!

For the record, I love each one of my uncles and aunts. Merry Christmas to them, may they collectively live to be older than Methuselah, and God bless them, every one!