A Reunion

 I went to a family reunion on my mother's side of the family this weekend. I have great memories of time with my cousins as a child, and have always been thankful for the effort my mom and aunties took to bring the cousins together. There were two kinds of cousins that I observed ~ they were all off the charts smart ~ but some were sensitive and creative and loved music and art. The other cousins were more mathematical and scientific. They could be found at the fuse ball table or playing games of stock ticker, while the other cousins would be singing away at the piano. 

 At this reunion there were quite a few of those cousins there but we are all middle aged now. I had not thought back to memories with my cousins for years (and therefore not been hit with that beautiful feeling of nostalgia and thankfulness). I was chatting with one of my cousins and there was a moment when all of my cousin's children, and my own children (probably almost twenty children), started running in a group up into a wooded area yelling a game they were going to play. My cousin looked up, and his face transformed, and he said, 'it's like the old days; that was the best.' For a second I could see the yearning and the youthfulness on his face again remembering his brother and cousins in their smaller forms. 

What a gift memory can be, I have been feeling that to my core lately. 

I have teared up a few times remembering this moment from yesterday.

 My grandparents got married at nineteen years of age and were married for many years. There were many hardships but through it all they did create a legacy. All those little children from my cousins and myself ~ what absolute gifts to the earth ~ and all because two people fell in love all those years ago back in World War Two. 

 How beautiful to see this legacy in the flesh laughing and chatting and playing together. I think my grandparents would have been so proud.

Thank you to my sweet aunties for planning the reunion ~

xo