It's A Family Affair...Summer Days

Ahhh, the summer months, sweltering heat, unsupervised neighborhood children, life-threatening mosquitoes, and an unfailing appreciation for the invention of air conditioning  Enjoying a cool refreshing drink and relishing a lazy day is permitted and applauded as much as possible. However, the one event that screams "hey ya'll it's summer!" is definitely the annual family reunion. This classic event set aside for families to reconnect and reaffirm their heritage and longevity is typically the hallmark of every summer vacation. Complete with coordinating tshirts, line dances and severely over indulging in every dish imaginable is just what we do.  I particularly do not care for the customary line dance, but who am I to eliminate it? So as this summer comes to a close this Labor Day weekend I am reflecting on the lazy and sublimely lovely days of this summer's past. Amidst the humidity I've attempted to find happiness in whatever's happening at the moment. Joy has a way of sneaking up on you in the most unlikely places.  I tend to try to allow the humor in a situation to reveal itself and go with it.  When being assaulted by the summer heat its almost impossible to have something to laugh at. Thank goodness that family reunions are never such an occasion. They are the highlight of an otherwise uneventful summer. There is absolutely nothing like visiting a family reunion as a guest of someone! In need of a few laughs, some shock appeal, a full meal and a funky good time? Volunteer as a guest at a friend's family reunion. This summer I had just an opportunity as me and one of my dearest friends took to the road to attend her family reunion in Opelousas, Louisiana.  Oh the wicked joy of entering the event venue and seeing the happy yet puzzled faces of her extended family members. You know the puzzled look, that says "whose child are you"? Too cute! I welcomed all of those free hugs and spent the day explaining that I was not family but a guest of their neice, cousin, etc. By noon, after a full meal and more hugs I was no longer a guest anymore.  I see myself often as an amateur anthropologist of sorts.  Because I've always enjoyed people watching, this reunion was a fantastic show being played out right before my very eyes in real time.  Unscripted and organic it was for me a treat to clearly see the connection my friend had with her maternal heritage. That one moment alongside my dear friend and her family helped me to appreciate and understand her all the more.  Here I could plainly see the stock that she came from, where much of the strength and resiliency she possessed originated from.  In the faces of her family members, faces that ranged in hues I saw and an unexplained joy to be in each other's presence.  There were games and an endless amount of dishes that had been prepared with much more than sweet sentiments but sincere love. I understood this to be the very first reunion of the siblings' children and these descendants of the Detiege family were much more than happy to be there, they were down right delighted to see each other.  All around me were men and women who more than likely encountered various challenges on a daily basis in their personal lives, yet they seemed so estatic to see distant cousins that they hadn't seen in years or quite possibly had never met.  There is so much to be said about the feeling of security that comes with knowing you belong to and are a part of someone.  All of the introductions were ongoing and pretty much facilitated a pretty bright idea, the use of name tags. I am not a name tag person, but I typically go with the flow.  I declined the offer to wear one deciding to forego the confusion by simply introducing myself as "Terrea, Marilyn's friend" or "Terrea, a guest of Marilyn".  The husbands/boyfriends got pretty swift with the whole introduction/name tag scenario by tagging themselves "so and so's husband/boyfriend." I thought that was a cute little concept. It made me smile knowing that these guys had a sense of humor amidst the heat. One of the highlights of the day was listening to their verbal history recounting the legacy of entrepreneurialship, longevity and the romance that ignited a lasting family.  I was moved with such emotion after hearing the story of my friend's great, great, great grandparents'. Her great, great, great, grandfather was so profoundly in love with her great, great, great grandmother that as the story goes, he defied his ethnic station in life and pursued a life with her remaining in slavery. My friend, as with many people from Louisiana, her great, great, great granddad was a white man who was much more than infactuated with a woman of color. He lived with her and after the plantation that they were living on was sold to another owner, all of the property which included the two of them and other families went to the new owner. In order to remain with his woman, my friend's great, great, great granddad, again a white man, allowed himself to be owned by another man for the sake of his woman. Wow! What a story! I enjoyed myself thoroughly that weekend in Opelousas, Louisiana.  I smile at the memory of the fun I had.  In fact, it was the height of the family reunion season and the hotel was full of at least two other families celebrating reunions during the weekend.  The hallways were abuzz with coordinating Tshirts, laughter and loud talking, trash talking uncles. It was entertainment heaven for me. I made a vow from that moment on to attend as a guest as many family reunions in the very near future as much as possible. I encourage everyone also to pay a visit a to one of your friend or co worker's next family reunion. Oh the places and faces you'll see, what fun and enjoyment you'll have! For all the free hugs I can stand and dinner, drinks and dancing I am hereby making myself available as a nanny, driver, event server or personal concierge. When you simply love people watching a family reunion is a low cost, great event to get some people adoration in.  By the way, I also had the privilege and honor of witnessing my friend receive her mother's spiritual affirmation that particular weekend.  Although her beautiful mother had been gone for years her presence was a very tangible blessing to my friend that weekend. It seems as if she received something of a nod of approval in the form of a bow-legged, mild mannered, six foot gentleman hailing from my hometown.  How adorable was it to see her giddy with excitement to have stumbled across a possible love connection celebrating his own family reunion that same weekend.  She never gets giddy at all! What an amazing fun weekend that was!