Wish You Were Here

There were 45 of us down at the big red house by the sea this weekend and it felt like we could have accommodated another dozen at least.  There were four generations of Barkers from my Gran (96) down to her great great nephew (barely over a year) and all 15 of her great grandchildren.  The real joy of the occasion was that it was neither prompted by a funeral nor by a wedding but by the desire for extended branches of the family to reconnect at one special spot, and to build new relationships across the lines of ever more distant kinship so that we might continue to cherish the family as well as the family lands we share.  I met second cousins I have not seen since childhood, and watched our feral young trooping off to build forts, climb trees and dig for clams - just as generations of us had before them - and delighting in their own fresh discoveries.

 

Comments

[GreenmanTim]

I was a beneficiary of other great planners at this event. A few lessons I might pass along.

1) If you feed them, they will come. Actually, everyone likes to contribute something, but having the staples and an easy way to seperate and dispose of garbage and recylcables made it much easier on everyone.

2) Setting matters. We were blessed with a family place that could accomodate and entertain multitudes (and a kind neighbor down the beach with extra rooms for overflow accomodation).

3) Don't try to organize much after people arrive. They'll find their own fun. The hardest part will be geting the reunion photographs of the full group. This won't happen on its own, but cannot take too long or you loose the good will you have worked so hard to achieve.

4) As long as you have the same number of kids around you that you arrived with, it doesn't matter if they are your own.

Best of luck!

[Janice Brown]

Thank you for sharing those photographs of a heartwarming family reunion. Did you plan that event, and do you have any recommendations for someone planning one for the first time?

Janice