Last Weekend's Reunion

Last weekend's extended family get-together went off very well, thank Goodness. Lots of small, very fun moments, and the place we stayed (which I booked without having actually laid eyes on it in real life) was absolutely perfect: quiet, a grassy playground for the little ones to play, a large conference room where we could all hang out and eat together, nice individual rooms. I was given requests to book the same place next year, and we even came up with a date, which will save a lot of effort on my part as far as trying to arrange a time with everyone scattered across the country.

The most entertaining moment had to have been when my mother finally arrived. Unbeknownst to most of our family, my brother and I had plotted for over a month to find a way to enable him to be there. He's in the Air Force, stationed in Tucson, AZ, and he hasn't been able to come to the reunions for years now. We pulled it off. Mom didn't suspect a thing when she entered our cabin (which was crammed with relatives all waiting to see her reaction--they'd all been surprised too and hung around waiting for the next person to arrive and be shocked and pleased). She didn't even recognize him when he walked right up to her. She kept talking to the person next to her and looking around at everyone else. Finally he tapped her on the shoulder. At last she looked at him (still talking--she's good at that) still without really seeing him, turned, paused, then turned back around, cried his name, hugged him and started crying. It was great. I shall glory in the moment for months.

We came home, and the girls promptly got sick. Then I succumbed. Am not doing particularly well, and I'm only in the beginning stages. Hopefully the girls are on the way back to health and will soon take care of me in my decrepitude. (Risky proposition, that.)

A side note of interest and amusement. You know you live in a conservative part of the country when you are near forty and get carded.

While buying a six pack of cream soda.