Memories

I went to a family reunion last week, the third one we’ve had in four years. I must admit that when my cousin Bambi came up with the idea to start having these I wasn’t all that thrilled. I’d been gone from Ohio and from contact with extended family for over 25 years; we’d all gone our separate ways. And me being a non-fan of social events really didn’t want to go. But you know what helped? Facebook. Yes, Facebook. The social network. The place where the non-social can BE social. Facebook has helped bring the long-lost cousins back together. There are 50 of us. Yes, we come from a fertile bunch!!

2009 Reunion: Lillie, Bertha (Mom), Emilie, Edna

And that brings me to the point of this post…memories. When we started all getting back together and finding each other on Facebook, it started jogging the memory bank. One of my all time favorite memories was gathering at grandma’s house for the holidays. I miss those times. We were little kids then and a lot of us could fit in her house. It seems like the bigger we got, the busier we got…and the less time we spent together.

When my grandma died in 1990 she had 50 grandkids and at least 75 great-grandkids. I don’t even know how large the family is now. Not everybody gets together, I’m not even sure where some of my cousins have gone and we’ve lost at least 3 of them in the last few years. My mom is one of 10 children, she just turned 85 this week and is now the oldest member of the original 10. Three of them made it to the reunion this year along with my Uncle Bobby’s widow, Aunt Karen. Uncle Bobby, the youngest of the 10, passed away in 2006. I’ve got an aunt in Florida who made it up for the first reunion. One lives in Arizona. She hasn’t been able to make it to a reunion yet…maybe next year. I’ve got an uncle who lives in my home town, actually just a couple of blocks from my parents, who hasn’t come either.

Me, Patti, Carol

I remember lying under the table while the food was being prepared and watching parades on TV. And it’s so cool that someone took this ^ picture. I remember making pies with grandma the night before Thanksgiving and she let Laurie and I sample the peach pie…and then we had to eat it all because there was only 1 and there wouldn’t be enough for everybody. I remember playing games with grandma and I remember her amazing ability to count those little dominoes dots in record time without using any of her fingers or toes! I remember meeting some of my cousins at grandma’s house…they would ride their bikes and I would ride mine. And grandma always had cookies on hand! When grandma had to go to the bathroom she would “Go visit the Joneses.” :o) I remember spending the night countless times with my cousins. They always had the cool Barbie doll accessories like the dream house and they even had an Easy Bake Oven! I remember going out to the Balzer’s one time and Danny, I think, had his girlfriend there. On her motorcycle helmet was her name, DOT. And I thought that was really cool. I know now that DOT means Department of Transportation!!

Kay Beth and Me

I’ve got great memories of camping with the Wiggins’ at Andover and of canoeing and going for donuts at the end of summer right before school started (that one just came back to me as I was typing!).  I now am thankful that someone invented motels, but those camping memories are great to have!

We traveled a lot as a family when we were younger. I have memories of going to Arizona to visit the Wilson’s; of going to California to visit Uncle Bobby and family; of going to Oregon and visiting my dad’s sister and her family. I remember Aunt Beulah visiting grandma and

Great Aunt Beulah, Aunt Karen, Uncle Bobby, Della Gay, Mom, Great Aunt Erma

bringing her slides of her travels (I’ve got a quilt she made, hand-sewn, on my bed. My mom gave it to me after the fire.)

Memory after memory come flooding back as I write this…and I find myself thankful that Bambi had the idea to start having Russell family reunions.

Thanks Bambi!

Author: Jeanine Strock