Family Reunion

Today is the George Family Reunion at Knoebbels’s Grove Amusement Park.  It is more of an impromptu affair rather  than the formal George reunions of my childhood. In other words, I am not sure who will be there because it is more of a word of mouth and Facebook invite.  I hope there is a good turnout and that I get to see a lot of family that I haven’t seen for many years.  My family is very large.

The reunions of my childhood were rather somber affairs. My dad and I would attend so my dad could see his cousins and aunts and uncles once a year, on Fathers Day.  My dad’s family was Mennonite. He was raised Mennonite as a child. Not the beard and suspender Mennonite, but Mennonites just the same.  My dad was not religious in any way at the time of these reunions. But we participated anyway. It usually started out with a prayer breakfast, which led into a hymn sing. There were  old fashioned games played like three legged races and beanbags and horseshoes. I remember my mom never attended.

Any Lyle Lovett fans out there? No, he won’t be at our reunion today. But he has a song about reunions called “Family Reserve”.  Here is the chorus: “And we’re all gonna be here forever, So Mama don’t you make such a stir, Just put down that camera, And come on and join up, the last of the family reserve.”  A call to be in the present moment. But family reunions are as much about the past as they are about the present.

I hope the reunion goes there. To the past I mean.  I hope we talk about the wonderful memories of our collective past. I hope we talk about all of the family members who have passed away and the legacies they left. I hope we talk about how simpler things used to be. I hope we talk about the kindness and manners that were once commonplace.  I hope we don’t talk about politics!

Back to Lyle Lovett, and his song Family Reserve. Despite his plea to stay in the moment, and not think about the past, he starts to talk about family deaths. It starts small but builds to this verse: “And there was Great Uncle Julius, And there was Aunt Annie Miller. And Mary, and Granddaddy Po, And there was Hannah, And Ella, And Alvin, And Alec, and he owned his own funeral home. ”

The importance of family. The importance of our past. What have we learned from these people? What can we still learn?  What kind of legacy will we leave for attendees of future reunions to remember?

I hope that doesn’t sound like I am hoping for a somber affair. Not at all. I hope I laugh until Dr. Pepper comes out my nose! I almost wrote until I pee my pants, but that would be embarrassing!

So whatever your plans are today I hope you will think about family and your place in it. And I hope you will think about preserving legacies. Lastly, I hope you laugh so much that you pee in your pants! It’s only embarrassing if I do it!  It’s funny if you do!