Family Reunions

Each year in August, my family on my Mother's side, gets together for a family reunion. This is the time to eat, visit, and fellowship with relatives we see usually once a year. It' s really a good time of celebration and a lot of joke telling. Now believe me, there are a lot of type A personalities in my family and you can imagine how each one strives to gain the attention of the others. The talent at these occasions would be costly if we decided to start a Reunion Comedy Tour. The beautiful thing about families and reunions is the fact that when we lose precious loved ones, there are usually little ones to take the empty spots. I have attended our family reunions for over 40 years and look forward to the date  each and every year that rolls around.

Like all family gatherings, the initial get together is usually small, but as the years progress and the word gets out, the crowd grows and the time is more exciting. For several years my aunt would cook the meal for the party and of course a few would bring their special dish for all to share. Each and every person on the premises had to try everyone's recipe and then go back for seconds. I have gorged myself on banana pudding, caramel cake, coconut cake, and that sinful Oreo dish, where they put Oreos in a Dutch oven dish and load it down with pudding and whipped cream. Afterwards we would sit around the room and play bingo and fight to get the Dollar Store prize when we got our numbers in a row on the cardboard bingo card. It doesn't  take a lot of excitement to make a party now does it? Finally the game would end either because of boredom or exhaustion from trying to beat out our cousin or Aunt for the cheap prize and the atmosphere would get serious. Someone would say, " I sure miss Mama, she enjoyed these get togethers" and the conversation would start on old stories about deceased relatives and the childhood of the older ones to give a semblance of history to the younger ones sitting and listening. Finally someone would find something funny to say and the mood would change back to the type A's vying for the top spot of attention getter for the evening. On those rare occasions when both of my brothers and myself were lucky to get to the yearly festivities, I must say we usually took the honors for the #1 type A's of the evening. No one ever said I was bashful or shy. My wife has told me for years I have to be the MC at any get together where there are more than two people present. I guess entertaining is just in my bloodline.

This year everyone noticed a change in our get together. Over the past few years, my Aunt has grown in age and making dinner for a crowd as large as we are, was simply too large a task. The decision was made several years back to meet at a local catfish restaurant, which is owned by a member of my Aunt and Uncles church, and have dinner. Afterwards we retreat back to the home of my Aunt and Uncle and enjoy the banana pudding, caramel cake and that sinful Oreo dish that I was told is SUGARFREE!!! The catfish restaurant is absolutely the best I have found and throughout my many years of travel, I have eaten at a lot of them. The owner makes certain we are given excellent service, maybe because she is friends with my relatives or possibly due to the size of the group, hopefully for both reasons. Everyone leaves with an enjoyable meal and a full belly and no one had to stress out and slave over the stove all day preparing for a large group. This year was no different except we had more small children under 6 years of age and less older senior senior relatives to attend. Our group has changed and the ones my age are the seniors at our get togethers. No games are played, except for the younger one that run around the yard having fun and wearing themselves out. We congregate in small groups and discuss things going on in our lives, talk about when we retired and discuss the issues taking place in our nation and the world. Around 9:00 pm the party began breaking up because the kids needed to bath and go to bed, the older relatives wanted to be in by dark and we all said our goodbyes until next year.

Reunions, get togethers, or whatever you may call them are fun, exciting, and full of great food and fellowship. I look forward to my family reunion each year, but I am sad that as we slowly lose family the thought that the younger ones may decide not to carry on the tradition lingers in my mind. I don't understand why some of the family doesn't feel the passion or need to attend these functions. Families should always bind together, stay in touch, make a point to visit and call. I have taught my children that family is all you have and my children, even the young grandchildren look forward to our family get togethers. One day I will be one of the ones that leaves early to get home before dark, I will be one of the older relatives that sits and talks about when I was growing up and the old home place. It will be left to the younger ones to keep the tradition going and the reunions fun.

Life Happens.