I don't know if I can do this story justice here but I just have to try!
Sunday afternoon, as I lay down for my usual nap, I decided to phone my girlfriend because she and her family had taken off pretty quickly after church that morning and I didn't get to talk to her. I wanted to make sure everything was alright. Well, they just had a lot to do that afternoon and they needed to go to the grocery story as she had to cook that evening for their family reunion the next day, Memorial Day. I asked her if her kids and granchildren were all going and she said yes, though they put up a fuss about it. She told them that it is important that they go because once their aunt and uncle is gone (the couple who sponsors it and has it at their home), the family reunions will probably go by the way.
Anywayyyyy.....she proceeded to kind of unload on me about this family reunion and how she has a difficult time with it, too. It went something like this:
"Soooo....we get there and there must be 120-140 people there. We don't know probably 90 of these people, 5 are suspected child molesters, 5 are convicted felons, 12 are morbidly obese.....which leads me to me the part where the obese people crowd their way up to the food tables ahead of the children and elderly people and by the time my dear daughter-in-law, who probably weighs 90lbs. soaking wet, gets up to the table, the good food is gone. Everyone brings their own tent or canopy and it ends up looking like the children of Israel camped out around the tabernacle in the wilderness. The families and their children go to their own canopy/tent, so what is the point of getting together, since we stick to our own families anyway? Then the grown-ups have a chinese auction where most everyone brings junk to put in while I try to bring nice things and everyone starts fighting over the stuff I've brought and I'm tired and hot and feeling sweaty and sticky from the heat and humidity and having my granchildren, whom I love more than life itself, crawl all over me.....YES, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE GO....I tell my children....."
Well, I am in the bedroom with the door closed, while Ed is in the den when she is telling me this and I am dying laughing and we are screaming and saying stuff to eachother. (as only girlfriends can do! ;-) ) Ed comes in and opens the door and asks, "WHO are you talking TO??????" So I told him and he just shook his head and shut the door. He understood then. It was just soooooo hilarious hearing her tell it in her own inimitable way! Well, I talked to her this morning and they survived another reunion, thank the Lord! LOL So until next year........
4 comments:
apart from the screaming and the heat and the large people... It sound like a lot of fun... I dont have a big family, it is something i had always wanted big chaotic lunches and petty squabbles, i know that is silly.
Maybe i should just get some pets.
Well, but pets just aren't the same, Aidan, hm? And it isn't silly to want something you've never had, to experience it. How about Stace's family? Our family reunions are always fun, aside from the fact that we women do most of the work. You know, the cooking and preparation and so on. But it's worth it. Our big family get-together tends to be between Thanksgiving and Christmas and we do have fun! I always look forward to it so much. I am actually planning a family get-together in June because I just don't want to wait until Christmas, you know? Are you and Stace planning to have a large family? There's your answer to a big family with chaotic lunches and petty squabbles. They're practically guaranteed!!! *smile*
I remember going to a family reunion once when I was young... I couldn't hide because I look too much like my mother did at my age so everybody knew who I was! Fortunately I have now come to the realisation that my entire extended family is bonkers, so I don't bother going to reunions or anything anymore!
And you wanted to hide, I take it? *grin* My mother's oldest sister used to organize a family reunion on the Elkins' side (my mother's maiden name) but everyone just slowly stopped going over the years. We hardly knew anyone anymore except FOR our aunts and uncles. We were just never close to our cousins. Anywayyyyy....I will say that as I have gotten older I have come to realize the importance of family, even somewhat extended family. If it wasn't for me organizing them, my siblings and I would not get together as often as we do. I am the head organizer! Sometimes they'll even ask me, "Why don't you get a family get-together planned?" Hellooooo! Am I the only one who knows how to do this sort of thing? But it is just what I do, I guess. *grin* Sooooo....about those babies, Stace! LOL Are you and Aidan planning to have babies and if so, how many? *smile*
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