I REMEMBER

Recently I read a friends blog and the words I remember triggered an exercise that I used to do for creative writing. It was writing about our memories.

I remember family reunions, both as a child and as an adult. As a child I was just the cute little tow head that everybody wanted to hold or twirl around. As an adult I began to realize the strong connection of family and how we change from year to year. Aunt Mary many times brought her amazing apple cake, somebody always brought a box of fruit, Dave and Dar were the experts at watermelon, carving ornate baskets from the rind. Over the years their skills have definitely improved. There were many times weddings that substituted for family reunions, and many times there were an enormous amount of people coming from long distances. Sometimes Fred and Ester were able to come all the way from Estonia (a Baltic nation of the former Soviet Union). We have lost two of Mom's brothers and a couple of years ago was the first time that Mom and Dad missed the reunion because Dad had fallen and broken several bones.

Family reunions aren't about all the good food everybody brings. They are about the love and fellowship and caring that goes on and on in a most wonderful family. It is about games and water play and sunshine and lemonade. It is about new babies and the joy of watching them play together and of course we also see wrinkles appear more pronounced on all of us. It is a snapshot of the passage of life. I'm so thankful for this family.

My family lives far away and most of the children live far away, so those family reunions are long between each other, but just as special because we see a toddler become a young man and a young man become a loving a patient father. Pay attention at your next family reunion and see the time pass in a snapshot.