Tuesday Thoughts About...

...family reunions. 

I don't like 'em! Yep, I just said that. When I saw my cousin, Julie last week, her parting words were that we needed to have a family reunion. After she left, Jeanne, Janet and I said that--that was probably the last time we'd ever see her. I got to thinking about it and thought that I'd put a reunion together--my way!

This is how it goes at family reunions--individual families all stay together. There are a few of us--I am one--who will make the rounds and try to talk to everyone. And forget the picnic thing. That's a lot of work with a year of pre-planning to reserve a location. 

I've decided that as the oldest of all the first cousins, I'm going to plan one---MY way. 

We first cousins know each other---at least most of us do---maybe not all the little ones of which Julie is one. She's 17 years younger than me. I think I've seen her 3 times in all 72 years of my life. When we were kids, we went to our grandparents house at least once a month and had a ball playing together. As we've grown up, we lost touch. I have never met a single cousin's children. Nor have they met mine.

So, here's my plan for the reunioin: I'll first get with Julie to see how many emails she might have and go from there. Then I'll see if there's any interest. I'll tell them that they can invite their families but that I won't be inviting mine. My girls would not be interested in taking time off to make the trip to St. Louis to meet a bunch of people they don't know and will never see again. So why force them? For that matter, when and if this event takes place, I'll let Butch off the hook too. That way I can circulate and spend time with my cousins on my own. He's only met one or two here and there anyway. 

After I track down emails and if there seems to be enough interest, we can find a party room somewhere for 3 or 4 hours and have it catered by the restaurant. The biggest challenge I see is choosing a date. I guess if I'm doing the planning and have to travel to get there, I'll get to choose. Maybe I'll offer a couple of dates and see which is best. My best count is 21 or 22 first cousins and however many of their spouses might want to come. This seems pretty doable. Beyond that, there are well over a hundred. Maybe we can get a good count. That would be fun to know exactly how many of us there are--even if we don't know everyone. 

I guess I better get on it!