I saw her as I glanced out the window toward the park. She was blonde and gangly, not a cute toddler but not yet a teen; somewhere in those nebulous years before childhood turns to adolescence. She was running around the park with her cousins, catching tadpoles in the creek and turning bushes into forts.
A few hours later, I saw her again. This time she was standing on the steps of the Woman’s Club in Cairo, Georgia, waiting to have here picture taken. It was hot and there were gnats. After what seemed like hours, she was off again, giggling with her cousins.
Later, I saw her gazing at her older cousins, the teenagers. What was she thinking? She was caught in between; too old for the little kids but not quite old enough for the sophisticated teens.
Who was she?
If you haven’t already guessed, the girl was me.
My family has a huge family reunion every year in Cairo, Georgia which is about thirty miles north of the Florida/Georgia State line. It’s always the last full weekend of July. This was our sixty-first year. I have not been to all of them since I am not yet sixty, but I have attended all of them since I have been on this earth. (It’s pretty much mandatory with my Mom.)
With my daughter and son-in-law in Scotland, and my son not making the annual pilgrimage, this was the first year since 1988 I haven’t had my children with me. It was a bit disconcerting and gave me much time for contemplation. I suppose it is why I kept imagining my mini me.
I was also reflective because of the generational shift. It was always the “Big Nine”, my grandfather and his siblings, then the first cousins, their children, then my generation. The Big Nine and their spouses are all gone, relegated to our memories and the family photo albums so the first cousins are now the elder generation. My generation is right behind and two more generations of cousins follow.
It made me wonder, “how did it go by so fast?” “How did I go from being a child playing in the park to one of the older cousins?” Another trick of age is how fast the reunion weekend passes. When I was a child, the fun days playing with my cousins were endless. As an adult, it seemed like we barely arrived and it was time to leave.
It was a more pensive year for me, probably because I was missing my girl, but also because it was difficult to see beloved family members struggling with health issues. There has always been struggles with health or marriages among the family, but I think you are more aware of them as an adult than as a child. There is truth in the saying “Ignorance is Bliss”.
Of course, it was great to visit with family, catching up on the events of the past year. There were reports of healing, graduations, first jobs, school-aged children excelling in sports or academics and my favorite—a new baby cousin! It is always special to welcome a new little cousin into the fold.
I love my family and I love how we gather every year. You don’t hear about family reunions like you used to. I’m thankful that my family has continued this tradition.
Our big family reunion each year always reminds me of another reunion to look forward to—the reunion we will experience when we get to heaven. I have family members of the same genealogy and ancestry I will see but I also have brothers and sisters from all over the world who I will meet there. I think they will be as beloved and recognizable as my family on earth. I hope you will be there too.
Does your family have a family reunion? What is your favorite thing about it? What is a favorite memory?
Click here and here to read more about my fun, family reunions.
Kim Wilbanks 
I really enjoyed this article. My family used to do these big reunions each summer but when the older generation died, my generation did not continue it. We are spread all over the country so it’s hard. But…I have fond memories of those days. Thanks for the reminder.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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Beautifully written – those are the only words I can muster for such a writing as this! You are truly blessed with the gift and we are blessed in the reading.
Jody
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Thanks Jody! Love you guys so much!
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What a lovely, heartfelt post. I love your thoughts about heaven. We don’t have a family reunion, but family members get together around holidays (mostly on my husband’s side of the family, which is way bigger than my side). My husband and his brother grew up a few blocks away from their three cousins and were always playing together. However, when those five children grew up and had kids of their own, their children moved all over the country (as so many millennials do). Now at our family gatherings, we are pulling people together from twelve different states–ranging from New York to Texas to California. So our family reunions are starting to deflate. I hope over time the situation will change.
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I hope it will too! It’s amazing that most of my extended family settled in Georgia and Florida. My son is in Tennessee, there are a couple of cousins in Mississippi and Louisiana and one family group in Kansas. I have a cousin that lives in Hawaii and he has come to reunion two years in a row; yet my own son finds it to difficult to make it from Nashville! I had a similar upbringing as your husband. I have one brother and we had six cousins. We all lived on one street and our grandparents lived the next street over. Those were some fun years!
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I really hope the pendulum swings back the other way in generations to come. I hope families stick together and live near each other–as your family did and my husband’s family. There’s so much we can learn from each other at all phases of life.
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Kim, you have a way of touching the soul with your beautiful and heartfelt words. As you well know, we are celebrating this Christmas Brown Reunion of 72 years. I began attending these Reunions before we married in 1969 and have missed very few. Just this last year we were faced with the first reunion with the second generation all gone which makes our generation of cousins the patriarchs and matriarchs. That is a strange feeling for sure but a time of reflection of the past but also questions of the future and not only would the reunions continue but how would they look? The new Patriarchs and Matriarchs took a survey and although there will be some new flexibility in the planning, the Brown Reunions will continue. Both my husband and I were thrilled because without those annual family gatherings, the next generation of family members very quickly can become strangers which is very sad. I saw that happen with my Mother’s family many years ago. Kim, thank you for allowing God to use your beautiful talent to touch the hearts of so many.
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Thanks Rachel! I’m glad the infamous Brown Reunion continues! I know it may look different from now on but I’m glad you’re still getting together!
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