Sweet Reunion

We had a wonderful time at our big family reunion today up in Palmyra, IL (a town of approximately 700). I was amazed at the amount of faces that I actually did recognize from when I was a child.

There was a lot of reminiscing, laughter & a great deal of catching up to be done today. Several of the cousins had not attended one of the reunions for about 50 years! All of the hard work & hours that my Mom & I put into compiling current contact information on everyone was greatly appreciated, too. I know that when folks go to reunions, be it family or school, etc., there are always a lot of empty promises about keeping in touch.. but at least now everyone is armed with current information if they do decide to actually make good on those promises.

Our fireflies had a good time playing outside with some of their newly discovered cousins today. There was a wonderful breeze and sunny skies for most of the day. Just before we were ready to load our van & leave up there, a thunderstorm rolled in.. complete with some small hail---it quickly passed though and out came the sun again. My husband was able to help the kids fly my middle one's Thomas the Tank Engine kite for a little while, too.

Our little ladybug was quite popular at the reunion today.. a lot of the folks there remember my Grandma(her namesake) and were excited to get to meet her. I enjoyed showing her off and especially got a kick out of looking through old pictures with her in my lap. I had to hold back some tears when we were looking at pictures of my Grandma(her Great-Grandma) that were taken at a reunion in the exact same building(before it was "remodeled" back in the '70s) circa 1960. Only the interior of the building had changed in the picture.. the same upright piano was sitting in virtually the same position today that it was in when my Grandma & her cousin(who was visiting from Texas & who is also deceased now, too) posed in front of it. Time marches on.. but somethings stay much the same... there is some comfort in that.

I haven't heard when the next big reunion is being planned for.. but I certainly hope that we don't wait so long in between them anymore. My folks are in their early '70s now & each have health issues... they used to be the "younger" generation at the reunions & are the link between the older ones who have now passed on & all of the rest of us now. I want to soak up as many memories with them & their counterparts as I can before it's too late. I want my fireflies & my ladybug to experience all the sights & sounds of their family's history, too.

It's been a big weekend with Father's Day & the reunion, but we've all had a great time enjoying being a family. We are so very blessed... sometimes it can be easy to lose sight of that when life gets crazy. May we never take each other for granted.