Family Reunion After-thoughts

We survived the family reunion! It was great. Some started arriving as early as Monday evening of last week -- and they kept arriving throughout the week. We had 68 members of my mother's family at my house. All of her brothers and sisters were there (8 siblings total) along with some of their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces nephews and cousins. We hope that in the future, more of the second and third generation will be able to attend. Only a handful of the first-cousins were there.

The memories of course were stimulated. The stories of growing up on the farm was a common thread. My mother and her siblings told of milking cows, feeding chickens, hoeing cotton, rattlesnakes, tornadoes, family and neighbors. It seemed that most of the memories were good. A common theme was that they seemed to be happy growing up as they did. More than once I heard something along the lines of "we didn't have much but there was always plenty." Kids today don't usually see things that way. They feel abused if they don't have the latest computer game. My aunts and uncles were referring to food on the table and clothes to wear -- for the older sisters (the 4 girls came first) it might be dresses made from chicken feed sacks.

Today the kids want $100 tennis shoes (or higher) and my aunts were thrilled to have new dresses made from feed sacks. Hmmm -- do you think we might ever go back to that? There are parts of the world that would love to have feed sacks from which to make dresses. You never know.

It is a good reminder that we need to cherish the moments that we have. We especially need to be thankful for family. It is important to keep the connections alive.

Family Reunion Week

This week is family reunion week at our house. My mother's family is coming in from all over the country. Since my parents live in the same community as we do, we are both pitching in to provide accommodations for everyone. The events will culminate on Saturday with a big cookout and get together in our back yard. Let's hope it isn't raining. We are expecting 50 to 60 or possibly more for Saturday.

Family. I am privileged to be part of both an immediate family and an extended family that believes in the importance of family. Family is a place of safety and nurture. It is a network of support. It is a tie to values that run more deeply than the history of our country. I am thankful to have family. My heart and prayers go out to those who do not.

Time Warp

Hello from my home town. It is the "annual celebration" time -- sort of an Old Settlers Reunion that has turned into the time when all of the High School classes have their class reunions, etc. The series of events is the same each year with activities each night of the week leading up to the Saturday morning parade and recognition of pioneer families.

Friday night is a dance under the Pavilion on the square. It is a good place to see old friends and acquaintances. The strange thing is, they all get older while I never age. I can't understand it. I must be stuck in a time warp or something.

The other thing that I noticed is that dial-up is slow. I'm posting from my parent's home and their connection is dial-up. Maybe I did walk into a time warp. Everything certainly is slow.....