Why I Loved the Reunion

We got back from my family reunion last night.  It was a celebration of 100 years of my family being in the state of New Mexico (I tried not to cringe that I had to come to the celebration from my home in TEXAS).  It was  really long drive with 5 toddlers and 2 big kids.  We had to basically drive the entire height of the state of New Mexico to get there.  The final 1.5 hours of the drive were through gorgeous grasslands that were so flat and so...the same.  1.5 hours of basically nothing but flat fields of grass.   Even though all the kids were amazing travelers, that last stretch seemed to stretch on forever, and I actually wondered if it was really worth us going at all.

When we got into town, we only had time to set up the tent and BBQ some hot dogs (and veggie dogs) before the sun went down.  Still I wondered if this trip was worth the trouble.

Oh, my goodness, it was so worth the trouble!  It was a family gathering like we have not had in so, so long!  My mom counted 71 people who were under my grandparents' branch of the family tree!  That is a whole lot of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and their kids in one place at one time.  There were cousins from the mid-west and from the northeast and from the northwest.  Oh, yeah, there were cousins from Paris and Israel, too. There was a beloved aunt who I almost never see and really wondered if I would ever see again.  There were babies and toddlers galore!

For some reason I really thought that it would be mostly distant relatives (there were plenty of those, too) and that we would have to find some way to occupy ourselves lest we go crazy from being in a room full of the strong, silent type times 50.  Instead I wish we had several more days to spend with everyone!

Anyway, here's my Top 10 List of Reasons Why the Reunion Was So Great:

10.  There were vegetarian options at the meals!  Woo-hoo!
9.  There was an afternoon family history session that was really great to be part of, and especially to have my son be a part of.  Brishen now has funny family stories to share and feels a greater Daves connection.
8.  We got to introduce our children to my family and meet the new children of my cousins, including 1-month-old Andrew.
7.  I got to answer a lot of questions about adoption and foster care, including talking with a more distant relative who is unable to have more children biologically but wants another child.
6.  I got to hear, in the family history session, about a family strain of infertility that left 4 of my great aunts unable to have children biologically.  Hmm.
5.  There was the usual "grey hair discussion" where we all lamented about how stinkin' early our family goes grey.  Some genes aren't so great to have!
4.  Basia won a door prize!  It helped that we were given one raffle ticket for each family member, so our string of tickets was quite long.  Our odds of winning were pretty high.
3.  We were wearing the coolest reunion shirts that my sister designed!   My parents, my brother and sis-in-law, my niece and nephew, Jon and I, and our 7 kids all had matching shirts.  It was very cute!  I think my sister could have gotten rich had she set up a booth selling the shirts.  They were that awesome, and I had lots of people ask where we got them.
2.  Seeing all those cousins and aunts and uncles who were there from far and near was pure bliss!

And the number 1 reason why the reunion was so great:

1.  I know to the depths of my soul that my Granddad would be "Just so proud!" and that my Grandmother would be beaming at so many of us gathered together again.