No matter how far I may be removed geographically from my cousins, I think about them often. My dad grew up in the Midwest with five brothers and four sisters. My mom grew up in Arizona with two sisters and one brother. One of the biggest blessings to come out of these two large families is the abundance of first and second cousins. If you live in Arizona, the odds are high that you may have a cousin or two nearby. If you happen to live in the Northwest and you have never been exposed to an extended member of my family, you have a great opportunity to meet a 'world famous' Mulligan who is on tour performing with some buddies. If you are a Jimmy Buffett fan, this is your opportunity to meet Mark Mulligan who is paying him homage when he crosses the border from Mexico to perform in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Click here for his website and make sure you tell him his caveman cousin sent you.
For those of you who play tennis and/or pickleball, I would like to give a shout out to Mark's oldest brother, John, who added quality years to my life when he intervened to introduce some ideas about healthy eating. At some point leading up to our nineties, Dr. John Mulligan will team up with me as my doubles partner. After some fun together in grade school, we split up and competed on the high school tennis courts for four years. His team claimed top honors all four years.
It's easy to get lost in the shuffle when you come from such a large extended family so I would like to recognize the youngest male and the youngest female on the Mulligan side of the family. Some of you may have seen David Mulligan while he was on a world tour with Niki Bluhm and The Gramblers. Conan O'Brien invited the group to play on his show. David is now earning his wings as a pilot.
Dr. Kathleen Mulligan, the youngest first cousin, earned her medical degree recently. She is following in her grandfather's steps, Dr. VA Mulligan, and joins three second cousins who are also doctors or who are pursuing medical degrees. We are also blessed to have some of the best nurses you will ever meet in our extended family.
I would like to recognize the cousin who was born first. Mary Mulligan Hathaway holds all of us together with her kind messages about the extended family. Mary helped reunite a lost branch of the Mulligan family that broke away about one hundred years ago. Thanks to Mary, one of our lost cousins now has a Bible gifted by her when she chose to join the denomination our grandparents on both sides of my family belong to.
Well, it looks like I'm out of time and I need to get to my day job. Come back soon and I will recognize my mom's side of the family. I would like to thank all my aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, second cousins, lost cousins who have been found, and those who married into the family. My hope is that you cross paths with them. Have a great day.
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