family history

My mother was the firstborn in her family and didn't marry until the age of 30.
My father was the second youngest of a very, very large family, married at 37, and was in his 40s by the time I arrived.
I always had the oldest parents of anyone I knew
Add to that, because Dad's older sibs had married decades before he did, most of my first cousins on Dad's side of the family were well and truly married off before I came along, so I barely know them.

A very different situation exists on Mum's side of the family:

Mum's youngest sib and only brother was born when my Grandmother was in her late 40s and his oldest sisters were away serving in the WAAF,
Had his older sisters reproduced at what was considered the normal age for the time, he could easily have had nephews or nieces the same age as himself
but they didn't
so Uncle Ross first became 'Uncle Ross' at age 10, and was 11 when I was born

and my father had a brother-in-law who was precisely, to the day, 30 years his junior.

In his turn, my uncle didn't become a father until he was almost 40

All of which goes to explain why I have a gorgeous uncle who has been mistaken for my brother on occasiona first cousin who is slightly younger than one of my own children
and a second cousin whom I got to meet for the first time on Easter Sunday This is my cousin Katharine with Miss Sasha Annabelle who, although initially unsure about the caprine contingent, was quite happy to feed them her leftover pumpkin scone ... thereby making three friends for life [ Robbyn being her usual grumpy self is reserving judgement ]