My MIL passed away last October, leaving no plans for any kind of celebration of life. DH decided that his mother would want a big ol' family reunion as her celebration of life. Well, she got it! Last weekend, we hosted 45+ family members at our cabin. The yard resembled an RV park. In fact, we saw RVs on their way to the recreation site farther to the west slow down and wonder if we were a campground. I wonder if the 25+ flamingos at the head of the driveway had them thinking otherwise.
Some cousins have been doing some serious genealogy and shared the findings of DH's great-great grandparents, their children and grandchildren (late 1800s-1950s). Pretty exciting stuff: gold mining, murder, incest, run over by a train, died in a reform school at 14... can you tell DH's family was not part of American aristocracy?!
DH is an only child, and we had so much STUFF after MIL passed. She was also prolific in knitting, quilting, oil painting, basket weaving and weaving on a floor loom. She was always one to save "stuff" with family stories attached to them. We went through with DD1 and DD2, picked what we wanted. The rest was set up on tables for people to take what they wanted. I called them "party favors" and no one was leaving empty-handed!
That was so much fun...so many were story starters for family history.
MIL had created a family quilt in 1995, and we decided it was time to pass it on. So we had a raffle for it. The photo below shows those of us still alive with the quilt. We're all a little grayer! (Sorry the photo is sideways.)
I truly feel a grand time was had by all. Our generation reconnected, the younger ones got to know each other. There were about 10 kids from ages 3-10 who were like a swarm of bees, zooming from one end of the property to the other, playing in the small irrigation ditch, investigating the portapotty
, swinging, and just exploring! And all within sight of adults.
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06-29-2022, 11:27 AM
