Growing up over 1200 miles from my nearest relatives, I never heard the words, Family Reunion! When we moved to Missouri when I was 12 years old, I was in awe at how many relatives I had. We had a few of them come to Arizona to visit, but it was always one person or family at a time. Once we moved, we had a lot more visitors and the families seemed to get larger.
Growing up over 1200 miles from my nearest relatives, I never heard the words, Family Reunion! When we moved to Missouri when I was 12 years old, I was in awe at how many relatives I had. We had a few of them come to Arizona to visit, but it was always one person or family at a time. Once we moved, we had a lot more visitors and the families seemed to get larger.
At the end of the first summer, we attended my first family reunion. It was at a park in the small town of Oak Grove, Missouri. We got there a little late so when we pulled up to the park there was no place to park our car. Looking over the park I was really surprised to see all the people. I asked my Dad why would they have the reunion in a place so crowded. He responded that they weren’t just people, they were my relatives! I was so shocked.
To be honest, I think I only formally met about 20 people that day. I was a shy kid, and I was uncomfortable with all these strangers. This was my Dad’s side of the family. He had 10 siblings and most of those had at least 5 kids. His Grandparents had 12 children, and they all had over 6 kids each. I don’t think I had ever seen such a large variety of food before. Most of the food was foreign to me. Being raised in the Southwest most of our get-togethers were mostly Mexican food. It was a great day!
The next summer there was another Reunion. This time in a park in Higginsville, MO. I felt a little more comfortable this time as I had experienced a year of many visits with the family. I wasn’t shocked to see our family taking up the entire park and I looked forward to eating all of my new-found favorites. By the next summer, we had moved to California and I missed going to the yearly gatherings.
Fast-forward 20 years. My dad had passed away 5 years after we left Missouri. My mother had cut off both sides of our family, so I had no contact with any of them. I had gotten married to my current husband, and he wanted to make the trip to meet my family. I was so excited to see the family. When we arrived at my Aunts house, she came running out to greet us! I felt something I hadn’t felt in the last 20 years, I felt I was home. We were there a week, and we were fortunate enough to be there for the end of the summer reunion. I kept telling my kids that we had a lot of family, and when we arrived at the park in Independence they were stunned. Once again, the park was full of Hughes and Hayes family. I enjoyed watching my 3 kids get to know their family just as I had 20 years ago!
How wonderful that you got to renew those family ties. Do they still hold summer reunions?
Yes they do. We are hoping to attend one next year. Of course there is only one first cousin left besides me so I really won’t too many of them.