Guess Who's Coming to the Family Reunion?!

Family reunions are an exciting time! It’s a time when immediate families and their extended families can get together to catch up and reminisce. I love my family and I love attending the family reunions! In all the years I've been attending the reunions, I think I've only missed two – not willfully of course. I’ll do everything in my power to get to the reunion, because I don’t want to miss anything or miss an opportunity to reunite with my family once more – life’s too short to put off something so important.

A few years ago, we had plans to attend the family reunion that year. Some of my family had already left for the reunion days prior, but I wasn't able to leave when they did. Due to a scheduling conflict, it was starting to look like I wasn't going to be able to make the reunion that year. I was determined to get there! I finally decided that I was going, even if that meant driving through the night to be there for one day and turning right around to come back home.

One of my sisters decided to go with me. We had a smooth ride, and showed up at the picnic just in time. We were so excited to see everybody. I’m glad we decided to go because we soon made an interesting discovery.

I scanned the park looking around at all of my relatives in the same place. I then noticed a woman sitting at a table with one of my cousins. I didn't know the lady personally but I knew I had seen her before. I quickly remembered where I knew her from, and I wondered what she was doing at my family reunion. I turned to my sister and asked in surprise “Hey, isn't that the lady from your job?”  My sister looked and said “Yeah, that is her! What is she doing here?” she asked me. “I don’t know. I've never seen her at the reunions. She’s got to know someone or she wouldn't be here. Let’s go find out!” I said as we walked toward the table.

As we approached the table, my sister called out to her. The lady greeted her and asked “What are you doing here?” My sister replied “This is my family reunion. What are you doing here?” The lady replied “This is my aunt” as she pointed to my cousin. I said “That’s our cousin.” We stood there for a moment trying to figure it out and my cousin said to us “Yes, this is my niece – my husband’s niece, and these are my cousins.” The three of us let out a simultaneous “Ohhh…” and we had a good laugh about running into each other there.

While the lady is no relation to me, it’s such a small world that my sister’s co-worker would be related to one of our cousins – even if it is by marriage. Make it a priority to attend family reunions and get to know people. You never know who will be there and you never know who knows who!