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Mama because then she'd alternate between telling you to eat more and that you were eating too much. I always enjoyed sitting closer to my cousins and the general hijinx that came with them. Mario would often sit across from me and tell me about the fantastical clubs he frequented in Michigan or all the cool songs that were on the radio there. I remember one time I watched MTV endlessly so that I would know the songs he talked about, and thereby look cool. Sadly, my research didn't help out because he had already moved on to being interested in pursuing colleges.

It was fun to sit near Aunt Janie or Aunt Maria, too. Usually the end of the table where my Uncle Bill sat would be the best. He loves to swear, and so he'd usually make fun of Mama with a muttered string of curses that had all of us chortling into our dishes. Then he'd do a dead on impression of her to her face. She'd look at him sternly at first, but then smile and say, "Ima gonna git a you," and pinch his cheek. That was Mama. If you confused her, she mildly threatened you and walked away. My aunts, too, were always good for a story or some comment that would have the rest of us laughing.

There would be rivalry between the opposite sides of the table, too. Mama had these shallow Corning wear baking dishes that she filled with food. Since the table was so long, she'd put equal portions in two separate dishes and set them at opposite ends. Well, if something was particularly good or particularly well liked by one end of the table, those dishes could be depleted rather quickly. It was never the spaghetti, mind you, because we always had enough of that. It was usually the breaded shrimp that tasted so good! One side of the table would ask for some, and the other side would call them pigs and not let
them have any. If they ate it all, that was there fault. Then there would be an accusation that one person had taken too many and that was why there was none left. The innocent person wanting more had not had their fair share. This would ensue for quite a while until Mama or Grams broke it up by forcing the better stocked side to share.

And so we'd pass the night away, laughing and eating, making fun of Mama, catching up on old times, and just being together. I used to love being with my cousins, because I have a lot of them. Usually I only had my brother to play with, and, quite frankly, I was bored with him. But, when we all got together, there were more possibilities. Tag could be played and actually be

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