OUR REUNION

We had a family reunion this month, its been seven years since last one. After my grandmother passed, for some reason we couldn't keep it going. I had to work that morning but I figured if I got there by noon most everyone would be there. I would miss some family renewal time but there was always after dinner. So I made it a little after noon and the tables were full already. We were having it in the old high school gym where I had played as a child. Since the school moved and was remodeled the gym wasn't used anymore. They had a newer more modern gym. The old gym is now a community center for our area. It was a great place, a lot of changes have been made. It has a kitchen now and a front porch with rocking chairs even. Anyway after dinner we started grouping off, the older folks, the not quiet so older folks {my category}, the teens, and the smaller kids in the fenced in playground beside the gym. The older folks stayed inside at the tables, the teens were playing basketball. So the not quiet so older folks got the rocking chairs and gathered on the front porch. For a while we talked about family and the times we had last seen each other, and whose kids belonged to whom. Soon the talking went back to childhood times. All the kids had grown up with my girls and I listened as they talked about all the things they had done as children. We talked about what hard times we had been through, but we all went through it together. We were family, we helped each other out. What some people now call soul food for us was survival food. As one family member put it, it was poor people food. As everyone talked over childhood times, I realized they had a great life too, lots of good memories. They had a slightly different situation than me. But really not so much different when you think about it. The same mulberry tree we were supposed to stay out of, the same attic that had the bear in it to keep us out, the same grapevines to swing on, the same trees to climb. I am so glad I was able to bring my girls back to grow up here. The simple life of living in the country. No big cities, no gangs, no drug lords. They learned the value of life, the value of family. I am proud of that. Finally we had to part company and go our separate ways, vowing to meet again next year. If not all of us, at least part of us. Here where a part of us will always be, the mold of us, our heritage. Maybe more of us will come eventually. I think back on my life and say to myself how lucky I was tp be born in my generation. How lucky I was to be raised here, with people that really care for each other. We may be miles apart but in our hearts we are still family and we are always gladdened when we do get a chance to be together. We have the phone and now most of us have the internet. Keep in touch family.

hugs
neon_sapphire