REUNIONS
I attended a Family Reunion this past week and it reminded me that I am not getting any younger.
I expected that, just as I have during most recent annual gatherings.
The years seem to go by faster as I get older and after the eighty-year mark, I haven't let it bother me. I am glad to be among my own and, even though I'm an bit slower as the years add , the memories still pile up. The odd thing about that point is that they are new memories – not old ones. I am now building a structure
made up of young people, primarily, and their growing families.
It is proper that they think of themselves as being ”young”, but I, having been there and done that myself at one time, they are really older than they think themselves. I look at the young couples I have know since their birth. I remember them as being small, sometimes as mischevious little brats and others as pretty packets with saintly tendencies. Now, I am always pleased and sometimes amazed at what they have grown up to become.
They have every right to think of themselves as being “young”, but the actual facts of the matter tell me that the couple at the next table with their three children couple at the next table with three children are actually half my own age and well on their way to that “hill” they will soon be said to “go over”. They remain young in spirit even if the years are creeping upon them, and that is the soul of the basic enthusiasm for life which they pass along to their children in a loving manner. To do so reminds them that a function of being a family is to continue those traditions which set them apart.
Special care must be kept in mind to keep family reunions young in attitude. The oldsters are going to leave and it is the young member coming on who will keep the affair alive and functioning . I was especially pleased to find that this recent reunion approved and acted upon a suggestion which, I understand, came from one of the more youthful members regarding the established routine of taking pictures.
An established part of every reunion, the taking of pictures has become a deadly routine resulting in annual pictures of each family. The way was done at this particular reunion of '04 provide each family with photographs of the larger family divisions - not by families - but by generations. For the first time a member comes to find where they fit in the overall structure of the family when they look a these photographs.
The procedure starts the the founding family the husband and wife upon which the present family founded, being remembered.. If any of their sisters, brothers and their spouses are living they form the initial picture. The children of that first couple and their spouses are next; followed by the children of each of those children from those belonging to the oldest through to the youngest... .also with their spouses .You can see how the steps progress in order to a few great-greats at the end.
The pictures we will get from this “Reunion '04” will be more valued. They will provide a means of each member being able to ascertain where he or she fits into the wide family group Generational impetus will be formed as each group gets to know who else belongs in that same area.
Reunions are for old-timers in one sense, but they endure because of the youthful elements being accented. One young person's suggestion about how we ought to be taking our annual photographs is an example of how - when their interest and concern is aroused - youth can participate and move it all forward to an even better future for the family.
A.L.M. July 2, 2004 [c659wds]
