When my father’s mother’s family held reunions (before grannie and her seven siblings passed away) there were always a couple hundred in attendance. Cousins came from all over the USA. I always enjoyed getting to see my relatives that day. Everyone shared such pleasant lies about their childrens’ prosperity.
My father’s father’s family had a family reunion last year but they sent me the invitation through my mother who didn’t think to tell me until the week before it happened.
That didn’t give me much time to book a flight to Belgium from Chicago.
A cousin who went told me there were a several hundred in attendance and a great time was had by all.
My mother’s family didn’t/doesn’t hold reunions as far as I know.
Pity!
Her mother was one of 18 children and her father played fiddle as a young man at the Saturday night dances at a lumber camp in Wisconsin.
I’d like to have heard the stories from some other perspectives than my grandparents’.
Only my immediate family (mom, siblings, their families) are in California. A couple of brothers in DC. All the rest are in Dublin, Ireland and one family in Toronto, Canada. We have big dinners often enough.
My brother in DC organized a reunion in Dublin 2 years ago. Most of my family here went. I couldn’t get time off from work so I missed it. About 80 people met at a hotel restaurant. A microphone was passed around and various big mouths told stories. It was a big success and a lot of people said it should have been done sooner. I don’t know if it will happen again and I’m sorry I missed it. My son went. He had a great time. The rest of the California gang went all over Ireland on tours with relatives, partied in Dublin at cousins’ houses, etc. They’re still talking about it.
Tony
I’m one of the lucky ones. We have an annual gathering around 4th of July, with my folks and their offspring and grandkids, usually some of my father’s siblings and some of their offspring. We all look forward to it, including our spouses. When my paternal grandmother was alive, we had an extended family reunion every five years, often with 100-200 people. I remember my father saying one year, “There were 175 people here this weekend, and I didn’t hear one cross word spoken.” I was about 12, and every large gathering I’d been to had been like that, so I didn’t think anything of it.
Till my siblings got married, and eventually I did. My father-in-law marvels at how I can stay interested in my family when there’s no conflict. “It must be incredibly boring” he says, only partly in jest. I’ll take boring any day, whether it’s a stable family life or drilling a whistle tube.
I wake up every day thanking my lucky stars that I was born into my family and met my wife. I understand that not many are as lucky as I.
Including parents, children, cousins, and inlaws, my wife and I have 23 relations right here on an island one could walk across in an afternoon. Stopping at the gas station can be a family reunion.
And no, I’ve never climbed a water-tower with a can of Krylon to defend my sister’s honour.
(we don’t have water towers)
I never had to worry about these until I married this man …
My own family was so isolated from relatives that I seriously didn’t even know there were other people with the same last name until I was in my 30s!!
My hubby’s family on the other hand, used to have a regular set of reunions… with several factions of family… I usually ended up on the perifery discussing the interesting social and psychological aspects of such events with the most ‘black sheep’ members… fun from that perspective. We 'divorced his family a few years ago, and so haven’t been to any… have recently reconnected to an extent… hmmm… maybe better brush up on those skills…
