First Family Reunion

A few months ago, my daughter, Layla, said, let’s have a family reunion in Vermont! I’ll get an AirBnB. She wanted her six-year-old son to enjoy some of the things she liked when I took her and my son, Gavin, to summer in Montpelier and stay with my sister and her family.

Back then, vacation with family was what I could afford, and my sister and her husband were generous beyond belief, with both their time and money. The kids searched the rivers, swam, went down mountain slides, saw movies, ate ice cream and lobster, took mountain hikes, and put on plays with their cousins. 

I wonder what we will do this time, since we are grown, and Mercer’s cousins are teenagers. What fun will they have with a six year old? Although when I was a kid, I loved going to Alabama and discovering a new cousin had been born, or one I had known all my life had turned into a different person. Sometimes they were short, then the next year, tall. One year they were friendly, the next, aloof.

Family connections have a strong pull on us. This trip, I will miss the people who have passed on. What a blast if I could conjure my grandparents, so they could meet their great grandkids. This year I will see my brother, which is unusual, and he is moving to Florida so it could be a last time. Of all my family, I think he looks most like me, so seeing him means an analysis. How much grey or black is left in his hair? Did his teeth revert to more crooked than mine? Does he sound the same? Of course, voices are one part of us that often doesn’t age. The timbre lowers, but the tone is recognizable.

This will be great fun, and I’m happy to be invited. To have my kids and grandson all in one house together is a true joy. I’m taking a keyboard so we can sing happy birthday for the three birthdays I missed in August.

I’ll look at all of their physical selves, and try to be intuitive, but it’s harder to read my family than it is strangers. Or maybe I just care more and want to do better. I sure am aware of the moments that I bug them though, so I’ll take some books so I can hide.