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Blue text reading Family Reunion. On the left is a red haired woman, and older gentleman, and a young girl wearing a pink dress. On the right of the text is a blond haired woman, a dark haired gentleman, and a blond toddler.




an animated graphic of an older woman, a younger woman, and a child, all in the process of preparing food.


REFLECTIONS ON A FAMILY REUNION


Sitting at the long row of tables,

thinking about life.

Thinking about death too, I suppose.

Looking around at my daughters

all approaching middle age, 

time seems to have skipped over me.

They remind me so, of my mother, now dead

for nearly twenty years.

My how they’ve become such capable women.

Pulling off this entire affair, for example,

without one major glitch to speak of!

They gave me fine grand daughters too;

an animated graphic of a brown baby carriage with an infant in it. very young girl riding on a rocking horse a young girl child with blond hair in two pony tails and bangs, wearing a pink dress and walking.

Some still cook and serve the food, though not as I did.

These women are strong and proud

and know how to get

their husbands to accept half

the responsibilities.

That surely would have changed the

entire perspective

of my life!

Two of my grand daughters

have wonderful jobs

and make more money than I ever saw

black haired woman wearing bluish green dress and a pair of glasses. She is sitting at a desk, typing at her computer.

 in my lifetime.

Times are so different now. It’s a good time to

be young.

I sit and take it all in, under the shade of the

mighty Oak, where

if truth were told,

my first child was conceived.

No matter, truth was NOT told about such

things back then.

She was just born “a little early”, that’s all.

It was so many Summers ago,

though as clear as yesterday.

Today, I sit at the head of the long row of

tables

all prettied up,

both the tables, and me.

My great - grand children picked the flowers

 fresh this morning for the center pieces.

an animated blue vase with woman's face on it, and coming out of the vase are very bright flowers of red, purple, and orange.

They also picked several bowls of fresh

strawberries,

and brought them to me running and shouting;

“Eat mine Grandma!” “No, eat mine!” “She’s gonna

eat mine, mine are better!”

three animated fat and juicy looking, red strawberries.

Of course I had to taste some of each.

Mmm, I told them, 

I just love em all so much,

I can’t tell which are better.  They’re all

wonderful! This seemed to

satisfy them because they just laughed

and ran off playing.

I continued on with my reflecting;

They have all come here today to honor me.

I suppose you could say it’s “my turn” now,

and they have come to honor me in

the same way I came to honor all my ancestors

in so many reunions past.

Honoring each who preceded me, while never

realizing my “turn”

would eventually come.

Never thinking I would be the “old” one.

Each of those I honored was very old,

certainly they seemed much older than I feel today.

I don’t feel old at all, not

as I expected old would feel.

An older woman with gray hair and red sunglasses, perwinkle dress and a red necklace.

Although there was that brief moment earlier today

when two of my little

great grand daughters held out their hands

beside mine, and while staring at my wrinkly,

sun blotted skin, leaned over and whispered to me;

“Does it hurt? does it hurt to get old?”

And I pulled them both close against me and

whispered back; Not at all.  Not when you

have a great deal of love surrounding you.
 
a very young boy wearing a red shirt and blue shorts. He is lying on his tummy on the floor, coloring in a book.
EMAIL


The graphics below are my attempt
at a humorous look at the types of folks
one can expect to see at any given family reunion.
a teen girl holding hands with a very young girl.
WELCOME
a red haired young woman sitting in a purple chair and reading a book.
MIGRAINE
a blond haired girl sitting on a large stack of books and reading a red book.
SILK RIBBONS
a young male dressed in gray leotard and gray tights.
MAMA'S FACE
a dark haired business woman wearing navy colored suit and talking on her cell phone.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
a male with olive complexion and dark hair, beard, and mustache, wearing a red beret.
FINALLY
very young boy dressed in blue shorts and shirt, wearing blue and white baseball cap and holding a bat and baseball.
THAT SILLY MR JONES
teen girl with black hair, blue eyes, and wearing very red lipstick. she has piercings and is goth in appearance.
TRAIN WINDING ALONG
young blond haired girl wearing pink dress, red glasses, and using a camera to take pictures.
TO ROSE
man wearing safari outfit with hat and binoculars, waving.
CHILDRENS PAGE
a red, green, yellow, and blue, children's playground merry go round with child on it.
FLOWERS
gray haired man wearing blue and whit shirt, relaxing on a green couch.
PIONEER ANCESTORS
gray haired woman wearing pink dress and glasses, reading a book as she sits in her wheel chair.
MARTIANS
very young boy wearing blue shorts suit with matching hand and is holding a handfull of flowers behind his back.
WHIRLWIND
young blond woman wearing white tee shirt and blue overalls.
PENSION
very close up on face of older balding man wearing large glasses.
THE GOLFER
young boy flying a kite.
MORNING
man wearing apron and chef hat, barbecueing on a large red grill.
THE OLD COUPLE
older woman wearing a green dress and red shoes, sitting alone at a brown table and playing cards.
FOR ALL
young blond girl with two pony tails each wrapped with a red ribbon. A butterfly has landed on her nose and is flapping it's wings.
I AM
older man wearing green pants, yellow shirt, and wide brimmed hat is sitting in a rocking chair, playing a banjo.
PERFUMED PALMS
beautiful, movie star type blond woman wearing red lipstick and a white dress is waving.
SOMETHING GOOD
a male tourist is taking pictures.
COULD HAVE
a sailor is waving.
THE NEIGHBOR
a long haired male wearing blue pants and white tee shirt is playing a guitar.
HAIKU PAGE
an older male wearing green shirt and red pants is playing a record on his record player and dancing alone.
FREE GIFT
guy holding a large green boa (snake) around his shoulders.