I hear Great Britain is thinking of changing their laws of succession to the throne...meaning that no matter the gender of the child the Duchess of Cambridge is carrying, this child will be next in line to the throne after Prince William. (And in no way, shape, or form should Prince William be considered the "baby daddy". Can you imagine? How tacky would that be? How tacky is it that we use that term so frequently nowadays anyway? Another rant for another blog, I suppose.) Considering that Queen Elizabeth just celebrated her Jubilee, it seems the Brits are ok with a female monarch.
The DeKocks have been run by a female monarch since the patriarch of our branch of the family died in 1999. (Give or take a year...) That person has been my mom, Mary. She has marshaled the estate trust, oversaw the sale of Grandpa's home to her younger sister, and planned family reunions. She maintained a spreadsheet of phone numbers and email addresses and opined on everything related to the various nieces, nephews and greats of all connectedness. In short, she was the go to person for all things DeKock.
In the beginning, the were four DeKock sisters; Martha, Mary, Kathryn and Helen. Martha spent most of her adult life in Ohio and died in the 1990's, even before Grandpa DeKock. This left Mary as the de facto eldest daughter. Martha had three children, one daughter and two sons. Mom kept in touch with her niece and nephew and endeavored to make certain they were treated fairly. She asked their opinion regarding the sale of the family home. Mom enjoyed their visits. The last visit was in the spring of 2012 as Mom was finishing her radiation treatments. Mom always described her sister Martha as "the athletic one". It seems Martha had the dubious position of trying to keep the younger sisters somewhat in line, and this was met with mixed results.
Mom and Kathryn were the closest in age, and as they occupied the middle positions in the family, it seems they were the closest. They both married young, but Kathryn had the jump on having children. Kathryn had three boys in quick succession, and the Searle family moved to Utah. Eventually, a daughter would be added to this mix, my cousin Julie. We bookend the last year of the baby boomer generation with my birthday in January and hers in December. Mom and Kathryn look alike, sound alike and act alike. It gives my cousins and my sister and I something to laugh about.
And then there is Helen, named after her mother. Apparently, this was her mother's mother's name as well, and Helen was called Baby Helen for quite some time. I appreciate my Aunt Helen because she was the baby of the family, and we family babies know we are special. Helen has two children, one male and one female. My cousin Alan is very close to Mom, as is his wife.
Kathryn and Helen were here last week. At times Mom recognized them. She got just as angry at Kathryn as she did with me as we were trying to care for her in a way she did not like. It was fun to watch the sisters together. They were all together in Florida at the start of the year. This was also entertaining. No one seems to understand a sisterhood like those in the sisterhood.
Which brings me to now. My sister and I are unique in that of the cousins, we are the only sole sister group. (Not "soul sister"--keep your singing to yourself--and we will do the same :-) All our cousins have brother/sister combinations. So Donna and I are left to carry on the tradition of being DeKock sisters...albeit a generation removed. I'm thankful beyond measure that she is my sister. Although we are seven (and a half) years apart, we share the same mom, the same upbringing. And although we are as different as night and day, no one loves me like she does, and no one loves her like I do. No one understands a sisterhood like those in the sisterhood.
Will Kathryn or Donna take over the reigns of matriarch? I don't really know. I know both of these women are very special; strong, determined and loving. I look at both and see my mom. And I know I have been blessed beyond measure to be a DeKock and to be Donna's sister.
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