The Reunion

     Growing up back in the 1950's was quite often a family affair, seems like every weekend we went over the proverbial river and through the woods to Grandma's house where we met up with our Aunts and Uncles who had the same idea and of course there were cousins - ten on Dad's side of the family and about eighteen on Mom's side.
     The memories of those times are about all that are left, Mom and Dad as well as both sets of Grandparents passed away long ago and the only Aunts and Uncles that are left are Uncle Paul Wade, Uncle Henry Warren and Aunt Jean Wade and they are in their eighties and nineties. Once the Grandparents passed away the get together's became fewer and often occurred because of happenstance or funerals if at all. Like the four winds, many of us have scattered to all points of the compass and years have gone by since last we met.
     In every family there are always one or two people who are the self proclaimed keepers of the flame, they know all  the family history and keep tabs on those of us still walking around. Lil' sister Vickie and cousin Madeline Ruth are the ones who are the high priestesses of family legends and folklore, they have combed archives and graveyards in half a dozen states and have personal contact information on all cousins, their spouses, children and grandchildren entombed in  their cell phones.
     Not long ago Vickie and /or Madeline decided that a cousins reunion would be in order as we are all starting to get old and may not be around too much longer. Lo and behold they were able to put the reunion together and so that is where  Kay  and I spent our day last Saturday.
     I was looking forward to the reunion as it had been many years since I had seen most of the cousins, in a couple of cases we are talking 37 years, for Kay it would be a first as she had only met Vickie and brother Clint.
     It was great to reconnect with family and meet new cousins who are the children and grandchildren of my first cousins. Counting Uncle Paul and Uncle Henry there were four generations of Wade offspring in the same house, I can see the smile on Granny Wade's face - she would be proud..Cousin Sally was the hostess and when I arrived she introduced me to her daughter as her oldest cousin which is actually true - I am the oldest of the cousins and when Uncle Paul passes away the title of family Patriarch will pass to me. Actually, I am not sure if that is true and none of us were to sure about the succession of the title cousin, we got the first cousin down OK but the confusion started after second, third and twice removed.
     Memories of the past were in abundance, many stories were told even though they had been heard before but the telling of stories is what families do when they get together, it is how the next generation learns of the past. New acquaintances were made as our children and grandchildren mingled with each other and our spouses met some for the first time. Having met most of Kay's family she has been eager to meet mine and this was a prime opportunity.
     MJ and Matthew were in kid heaven as there were several kids their age to play with and an abundance of toys which were quickly scattered around the floor. It was good to see them surrounded by family they had never known, maybe they are old enough that they will remember their first reunion. Kay was talking to cousin Sally at one point when MJ walked up and said to Sally " this is my Miss Kay ", talk about putting a smile on someones face.
     My Aunt Jean for years would call Linda and I on our birthdays and this year she failed to do so, I hesitated to call her not knowing if she had passed away or not and as I was talking to Sally she said Aunt Jean had passed away years ago - now I was confused. Uncle Paul came to the rescue when he called her on the phone for me, it was good to hear her voice, she turned 90 this year and I guess she just forgot - I can only hope that I remember my name if and when I get to be ninety. When I told Sally that Aunt Jean was still alive and well she looked at me and said " I wonder who did die years ago ".
     Kay and I had come up the day before and spent the night with my brother Ronnie and his wife Mary, when the reunion was over we returned to their house one more night and even went to dinner with them and my nephew Lance and his wife Cassie. Our waitress at Long Horns was quite energetic as well as young . Ronnie, Lance and I ordered mixed drinks and the waitress asked for ID as proof we were old enough to drink, as she left to fill the order I commented " wonder if she could do the math by looking at our drivers license ", later when she came around to take our meal orders she told Ronnie that she would start with him first as he was the oldest - Lance laughed and said that should answer my question ( Ronnie is eleven years younger than me ).
     To finish up our long weekend, we left Ronnie and Mary Sunday afternoon and went to see an old friend of mine and Linda's. Emily Joslin as she is known now was married to Jim Phipps, the four of us were great friends and Jim was my best friend till his death in the mid 1980's. Later we went to see an old school friend Donnie Odum and his wife Wanda, they put us up for the night and Donnie regaled us with more stories of my youth.
     Thru out the weekend I took Kay to various places that meant something to me from my life in Tennessee - first school, several places of residence, Grandpa Riggan's farm.
     Overall it was a good weekend filled with family, friends and memories of a lifetime from long ago, memories worth holding on to.