The family reunion was easily the best time I've had since early January. I love getting to see everybody, but other than the reunion I very rarely get to. The reunion is my Dad's Mom's family reunion. She had twelve other siblings. You'd think this would mean we'd have a huge reunion but it's typically pretty small.
This year one of my two older cousins came in from California. I haven't gotten to see him in years. The last time he was in was around Christmas about 6 years ago. But I couldn't go visit because I was stuck here taking a Quantum Physics exam during the last available final exam slot, from 7 - 10 pm on a Saturday. For the past several years he has been spending his time surfing. He fell in love with the sport and ever since has been working just long enough each day to pay his bills. Every other moment is spent out on his board. He takes trips to. Like he'll go over to South America or some other place with a beach and travel up the coast. He'll meet other surfers out there and spend his nights at their place. If he doesn't meet anyone he sleeps on the beach. Now that he's getting older he's settling down and working on becoming a registered nurse. He's completed his first year of school and has two more to go. The guy is incredibly bright, when he finished up his undergraduate studies in Biology (I think it was) one of his professors invited him out to the Galapagos to do a research project. He turned it down though. I remember when I was a really little kid and he was a teenager, he used to always wear baseball caps. And I would always try to steal it off his head. I have no idea why I did this, but I was also a very annoying kid.
I always wanted to have more siblings which is why I think I love my family reunions so much because my cousins are the closest I've got. I have 5 cousins on my Dad's side and 4 on my Mom's side. Of them all, I am the third eldest.
Another interesting family member is one of my Uncles. He married my Dad's older sister. Although he is old enough to probably be her Dad. I think they are probably close to 15 years apart if not more. He's close to his 80s now. Right now he's pretty much retired but he still does lawn care as a side job. He's got over 300 yards that he fertilizes with one of those old push fertilizers that you walk around with and it shoots out the fertilizer. So for being close to 80 that's really good. But you wouldn't believe his age if you saw him. He doesn't look a day over 60. The only thing that ages him is his hair which, while full, is quite gray.
Like all families, ours has our share of problems. But we don't address them. The common position our family takes on difficult times is to bottle it up and then let it explode behind closed doors. It was interesting to see all the subtle signs of various members trying to keep their cool when some of the touchy subject matters were brought up. And my own immediate family is no exception. I think that overall we're pretty close, and that as the older generation gets even older and starts needing a bit more attention it will help bring us all even closer together. I also think that is one of the benefits of having a large family. I think large families have a better chance of staying together versus the small ones.
While my family is not very large, these few hour reunions never seem to be nearly long enough. Oh well, maybe some of my cousins will start getting hitched and then we can all meet up again at the wedding. I'm a hopeless wonder in that department, but a few of my cousins seem to be getting along much better. In fact one is engaged but the wedding isn't until next October.
Attached is the latest picture of me and my cousins. It's not quite complete, we are missing my other cousin who is in California, but it's been a long time since this many of us have been together. The last time I think we had one of these taken, I was still being cute and parting my hair on the side.
Fig.1) Me, Carrie, Kent (Carrie's boo), Jacklyn, Joe, Brittany, Daryl
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