From outside the box

I just got in yesterday from 6 days on the road, three of them at Laguna Beach for a family reunion. What a wonderful and strange event a family reunion is, especially when you don't hold them very often. I won't bore you with too many details, but I would like to share my over-all (over-view?) thoughts about the get-together.

My most outstanding impression from the whole event is how acutely aware you become of "cycles". When you only see certain families every ten years or so, it's like watching life fast forward, except with the tape skipping. It seems like overnight, babies become kids, kids become young adults, young adults become middle aged, middle aged adults become old, and the old, well some are just gone. Time waits for no one.

My other over-all impression was that I really do come from a family of hams! At dinner on Saturday, as different people were performing and speaking, I was looking around the room at the gathering of over one hundred relatives and I realized that there wasn't one shy person in the whole group! I think that any one of them would have been happy to take the microphone and either MC or perform in some way, and that was before the alcohol kicked in! I told my son, who has always enjoyed performing in plays, "If you ever wondered where you get your 'performing gene', just take a look around you."

My greatest impression, however, was the joy of realizing that I share genes with so many good decent people. I'm talking about people who have endured tragedies that would have sent your average person into life long depression, people who have helped to raise grandchildren, people who have been brave enough to declare their sexuality not knowing what the consequences would be and their close relatives who accepted them for who they are even though they might disagree with their lifestyle, people who have as adults (and after or while raising kids) put themselves thru college and made careers for themselves, and people who have stuck with their marriage thru the good and the bad (unlike myself).

On the personal side.... I would like to extend kudos to my sister Celeste who worked so hard to make this happen, and with back pain to boot! Mark, playing guitars with you was my favorite part, I hope we don't have to wait 8 years to do it again. Cindy and Jennifer, life is just fun when you two are around! Curt, you might be a republican, but I appreciate your open mindedness to "the other side". Pat, all I can say is your "kids" are lucky to have a teacher like you. Mike, if everybody was aware as I am of the humor, as well as the depth, that lies behind that subtle grin, they would be blown away. Donna, forgive me for the stupid thing I said about Chris, I'm sure he was bullshitting me.... just trying to impress his uncle Joe. It was the sixties, what can I say? Maggie, thanks for the 1917 bubbly, however, I am still skeptical. Dennis, how do you keep getting all these beautiful girlfriends? Stacia (Bunny), your an old soul. Someday, on another plane, it will be fun to review some of the many lifetimes I know we have spent together. Carole, sorry you couldn't make it, we were all very aware of the void created by the absence of your energy. Kacky, you are nuts! Great costume, great stories about Dad. Janice, you should find a way to write more. You have insight as well as humor, what else does a person need to be a writer? And brother Dan, I should be available to smoke cigars/pipes in about an hour, I'll call you.

In conclusion....Where else but a family reunion can you throw together such a diversified and colorful mixture of Christians, atheist's, intellectuals, new age philosophers, republicans, democrats, wild teenagers, old folks, musicians, homosexuals, oversexuals, and everything in between, and enjoy total respect and acceptance....What a weekend!....What a family!