This weekend seems to be THE weekend to have a family reunion. One of my co-workers is helping to organize her 80+ person family reunion at a picnic ground in DC. Their family is much more organized that I want to be. They have a committee with representatives from each of the families in the group. They do a local picnic every other year. On the OTHER of every other year, they take a major, planned-out trip. I don't remember where they went last year, but next year is Chicago. They work just like any other organization - several sites are scouted out and information is brought back to the committee, who ultimately decides the fate of the extended family reunion.
My mom's family is having a reunion, of sorts. The unwritten reason for the gathering is that my uncle (the oldest) who lives in Oklahoma is going to be visiting my grandma. I have only met him sporadically over the years. Because of the major event of my Grandpa Bill dyeing earlier this year, I have a feeling that this weekend will be one of discernment among the siblings. My mom is not making the trip for several reasons. I sometimes worry that she is distant from the family, but it's hard to continue to make that trip, and she has made it many times this year.
I will also miss the Donovan's (my mom's family). It's unfortunate, though, because if it was next weekend I think that mom would come up and I know that we would have been available. Yes, I told the family this way back in May. Oh well. We are going to miss is because of another family reunion.
Christmas in July is the brainchild of MANY people in my wife's extended family. For many years the family gathered at Christmas time in Iowa like clockwork. When whe Midwest was pounded with snow one year, MIL and FIL were stuck in Wyoming with no way to get there, and BIL and SIL were in an accident on the way and headed home instead. This was the first year that I was invited, as the fiance. I opted to stay home, well in advance, to do "one last" Monroe Family Christmas. It was, after all, the last time that one of us "kids" was getting married. I convinced Anny it was the right thing for me, and I still believe it was. Anny was the only rep from her part of the family to make it "back home" for the holiday.
The next year it was decided that each clan would celebrate on their own, and we would work an every-other-year thing. That was the intent. (That became my first Wyoming Christmas. VERY pretty out there, even with all the snow) I had begun to work on Anny at this point about the number of trips westward we were making. I came to a family wedding completely prepared to be the outcast for suggesting that we gather in Iowa during the summer instead, and let Christmas be for the smaller family units. Turns out, I was not the only one thinking that way!
For many years Jim (among others), my Father-In-Law, had been thinking, if not suggesting, such a shift. There were some other awkward, but necessary, conversations being had at the time, but Anny and I planted the idea into another persons head, and the idea grew into our Christmas in July gathering! I'm very excited this year, now that I know the family a bit better. Even talked Anny into buying water guns for some of the kids, play dough for the others.
So - I will be out of touch for the weekend again. When you think of me, think of me in tie-dye, drinking lots of water, enjoying a relaxing weekend with family. Also, probably eating corn. :o)
Yay, corn!
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