Family Reunions

Personally I love family reunions, reconnecting with siblings, cousins, people we may not see but every few years. My immediate family tries to get together at least once a year which is a challenge as we are spread over the northwest including Alaska, and one of us even lives in Europe. Admittedly reunions are also a lot of work...cooking, cleaning--pre and post, planning. They may even be a just a tad stressful.

We had somewhat of a family reunion just this weekend centered around a niece's wedding. The wedding party was beautiful, the bride glowing and the scenery fantastic. But there was a lot of stress involoved. I won't bore you with all the gossip but we were left totally exhausted. Yet, amidst the turmiol, there was a lot of laughter, of course tons of food, and even an olympic style volleyball game. And...lots of conversation. I learned things that I would have thought in the 40 plus years I've been around I'd have at least heard about them in passing!

Did you know that you could kill your husband simply by making him soak his stinky feet in a pan of clorox water every evening before coming into the house? (What's your husband's life insurance policy looking like?) The spring before Ken and I were married he had been planting trees in the south. The having to wear tall rubber boots, showering maybe once a week, having his clean laundry stolen out of his truck which left him with no socks left him with the most rotten smelling feet. Taking his shoes off at the end of the day would fill our small apartment with an odor that would knock out a skunk! So...every evening he'd have to remove his socks and shoes outside the house, sit on the steps and soak his feet in a pan of well-diluted clorox. It worked! And I didn't kill him off!

Did you know that just because your man's voice is snarly and somewhat raised, his eyebrows furled, and he has that dart-throwing glare in his eyes, it doesn't mean that he's upset? The men in Kenny's family are very good at that. They all have a deep, gruff voice and piercing eyes. In fact all his brothers and he sound the same over the phone. Many years ago, I got a late night phone call from whom I thought was Kenny...and we talked and talked, for about an hour. I remember thinking, "Kenny must be having a really boring night at work. He never talks this long on the phone." When the conversation was done I asked that he stop and pick up a gallon of milk for breakfast. There was a pause, then Scott said, "Toni, this is Scott. I'm still in Alaska."

And did you know that bloggers are LAME? I couldn't believe it when my darling daughter informed me of that fact. She is having a hard time with the fact that I'm a blogger. "Mom, you should just write a book! Why waste your time with a blog?" When asked if she's even read any of these she of course said "no". And I'm thinking, then why am I being so careful with what I say about her? I could be telling such juicy stories...and there are a few! I wouldn't do that though. But why AM I blogging instead of writing a book? It did make me once again ponder. I have always enjoyed writing--I was one of those kids whose favorite class was English and grammar. I didn't always get good grades in those classes, but I did enjoy them. I do have a few ideas about book topics but we'll see what happens with those. I've begun blogging probably because it's much more cost effective than publishing a book and certainly a lot less intimidating. It also has that immediate satisfaction thing that we so often seek. It fills that need for writing I sometimes feel.

So back to family reunions. I love my family--both sides. With all our weaknesses, flaws, and frustrations, we do have a lot of fun together. Getting together helps us realize how much we miss each other--not that we're ready to move back in with each other! But it does help us remember that we need each other, even more now that we're adults. And reunions do teach us many things--things that we can pass on to the "youngsters" which they in turn can pass on down the line.