From 8/6/08:
Today, officially, my family reunion went bad. Before it ever happened. Oh yes, I've had them go bad at the reunion before. As a kid, I can remember screaming matches between adults, tears, and being packed up in the car and Getting Out Of There Now. I can remember doing that myself as a young adult with babies to my own parents. The 20s are such a hard age!
But I don't think I've ever had one cancelled before. Called off. Due to lack of committment. Price of gas. Cost of hotel. Length of drive. Other things on the agenda. All of the above were reasons for it. Seems some family members griped about the venue, and people actually listened to them! Don't they know? Everybody gripes about the venue. It wouldn't be Family Getting Together if they didn't! And gas? Don't get me started - every time I put TWO new pairs of shoes into ONE gas tank I just want to cry. We are all griping about the gas, but we're also all still driving. Ok, except for my one friend at work who has successfully figured out how to take the train.
Yes, some folks can't make it this year. It happens. There is no perfect date for everyone, it just doesn't work like that. It's unfortunate, but there's always next year. Right?
I wonder. This is our 2nd annual get together, and already we are stumbling. If we allow this one to cancel, will the next one even get off the ground? I fear for my family. I fear for our relationships. Everything moves so fast now. It's just so darned easy to stay in touch with the internet, free long distance on cells, email, digital photos, even You Tube! Yet we don't. We come from the same bloodlines, we share a history and a lot of memories. We're even geographically located all in the same state within 300 miles. But talking to each other is hard, getting together even harder.
We weren't raised like that. Some of my favorite memories are of being a kid and running wild at reunions "on the river" with my cousins. Some whom I only ever saw at the family reunion, but boy did I look forward to seeing them each and every year. Some whom I only met a couple of times in my entire life, but wouldn't even have had that if not for the family reunion.
And then there's all that food! We have some of the best cooks in my family, and some world class barbequers! The eatin's always good.
I can't get those times as a child on the river back, and I can't give that precise experience to my grandchildren. But I would like to give them the family reunion experience. I would like them to see their cousins at least once a year. And yes, I'll gripe about the location, and I'll gripe about the cost of gas, and I'll gripe about what my daughter forgets to bring along for my grandkids while we're at the reunion because that's who I am. My family made me that way, and I'm damned proud to be part of them all!
And I'll leave with more rich memories to add to my collection, on my own digital camera that I can share over the internet with my family. I'll mark the progress each child has made, and the progress of the waistlines and hairlines of each adult. I'll cherish every spectacle, and do my part to be on my best behavior so we all have a good time. I'll be thankful of one more year with the older members of my family. I'll tell them all how much I love them in my heart, and hope they can see it in my deeds and hear it through my words. I'll have my memories of us all 30 years ago super-imposed over the faces I see today as time folds in on itself when the family gets together. More connections will be made. Heart strings will be pulled a little tighter.
A little piece of me crumbles off every step further I get from my family. The reunion puts plaster over the hole. Here's to our 2nd annual family reunion of the 21st century.
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