Remember word association tests from psychology… when I say “dog” you say , when I say “red” you say … I say “family reunion”, you say…
I can imagine there are many responses out there. For me the idea of a reunion is not bad. Most of my experiences have been very good so this past weekend I traveled 610 miles to attend a family reunion. My aunt Betty, sister of my Dad, was having her 80th birthday and we surprised her with a party and reunion all rolled into one. It was fantastic!
I loved the premise of the whole thing, a surprise. You know how many surprise parties don’t work, someone spills the beans or the one being honored just finds out through pure luck. Not this time. Aunt Betty walks in for lunch with my other aunt and then is offered the chance to see a newly remodeled room. Inside this room are 25 people all in matching t-shirts made for the occasion. The look on her face was worth the whole trip for me. Total shock and wonder (we did have medical relatives on alert and 911 speed dials ready to go). Then each person files by and gives her the hug of honor that she so deserves.
The reunion happened at my Aunt Libby’s and Uncle Melvin’s house. They just built the “retirement” home of their dreams. The house is built for having people over and feeding them (almost two kitchens). The back yard is a like a great city park. It has a huge deck, beautiful scenery, a play-set for children, a fantastic tree house, and a 15 to 20 foot high platform area where a 110 foot zip line is launched from. Virtually every member of the family did the zip line. It was equipped with a seat so even my 67 year old Aunt went down, as did Amy and I (99 years combined). NO, we did not get Aunt Betty on it but we tried.
Why are reunions important? We need to stay connected in a world that is barely holding together emotionally. There are awkward moments. Someone suggested we should have had name tags, which at times would have helped. For a good portion of the event I thought a young couple was married, then figured out they were brother/sister. But you work through that and “catch up” with lost years. My Dad had 4 sisters and one brother. The two aunts are all that live today. Yet we talked a great deal about the ones who are not here anymore. There were so many precious moments as Aunt Betty said her words of thanks for everyone coming. Her talk was on “the best days” of my life. This was certainly one of the best days. She deserved all the honor we gave her. She reminds me so much of my Dad . She is a very strong woman that loves and cares in very quiet ways.
So, a big thank you to all of my family who made great effort to be there. There was so much emotion packed into the weekend. Most of us got to attend church together on Sunday morning and that reminded me to pray regularly for each family and person there. I hope we can find a way to do this again and keep the family connection going.
