Points2Ponder
By Alan P. Scaglone
Families just don’t seem to get together anymore.
For those family reunions.
Remember them?
I used to love the ones that required that everyone wear the T-Shirt proclaiming “Your Name Here Family Reunion 1987!”
Just loved those shirts…I always wondered? When and where would you ever wear them again?
Apparently, as witnessed at our local Wal-Mart, whenever you need to wear a shirt that no longer fits and has one too many holes in it!
Well….maybe lose the t-shirt, but…we still have Family Reunions.
We had one this past Saturday for my mother’s side of the family, the Cabreras.
My mother Rose, the eldest of five children, passed away in 1977, but…I have remained close to her side of the family over the years.
My Aunt Ciria, God rest her soul, made me promise on her death bed last September, “Please have one more gathering after I am gone—to remind them how important family still is!”
And…in her honor, to keep that promise, I planned this picnic.
POINTS2PONDER Why don’t families prioritize time spent together? Why aren’t there anymore reunions, with cousins, uncles/aunts, memories shared, new memories made! Why is it out of style to reconnect with extended family and share today like you did yesterday, keeping in mind, none of you may have tomorrow!
So, they all came in, one family at a time; the one last surviving sibling and his wife, who have no children; the wife of the favorite uncle who passed years ago; the eldest cousin; then my generation of cousins and our spouses; then our children; and lastly, their children! All of us, gathered under a pavilion, in a park that was in the middle of the neighborhood the five siblings grew up in and still housed so many childhood memories of those gathered.
I played a game called “Cross the Branch!” Everyone had to share a memory of someone there or passed away, who was not their parent or sibling. Could be an uncle or aunt or cousin.
I started with a story of how the favorite Uncle literally saved my life. I then opened it up to others. Hands went up all around the pavilion. With each story, there were laughs, there were tears; there was a lot of reminiscing and a lot of “I remember that dog—Lucky, right” and everyone seemed to really enjoy our sharing of the memories.
I was amazed that the next generation, our children, wanted to share memories they had of some of us. They talked about Sunday dinners with family gathered; they even mentioned a fortuitous meeting with Jesse Jackson while running backward around the Washington Memorial one Thanksgiving weekend. They seemed to have made a few family memories of their own.
We looked around, and others kept coming in, hugging one another, bringing their children, eating some of the food that had been prepared. I know southerners put out a good spread but, latins who are from the south? That’s the perfect combination! There was more food than we could eat, but…somehow, by the end of the picnic, it had been devoured or diveyed up, wrapped up by the ladies for every family to take home leftovers “for later”. Don’t you just love that term? “for later!” And we all know…nothing better than, “later” that night, going into the fridge and pulling out the leftovers and Voila! Better than at the picnic!
I looked around, and there was my Bella, who was handling the food assembly line along with the paper products and the drinks and the serving. She is not latin, a good old fashioned Florida Cracker who can cook black beans/yellow rice and MoJo Pork with the best of them. She was there, by my side, making this picnic a success!
As we all said our goodbyes, one of my cousins leaned in and whispered “I’m sorry none of your kids showed up—maybe next time, we’re still praying! God will work it out!”
You see…I had sponsored this picnic for my family to gather, for generations to share memories, for new memories to be made…
Bella and I were the only ones who didn’t have a single child or grandchild show up…and our hearts were breaking the whole time!
Sometimes, the greater good is worth the greater sacrifice.
Maybe next time?
Maybe…
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! We made it EASY TO COMMENT!
SELECT the link BELOW! YOU can send me an email! I CANT WAIT!
askalantheauthor@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment