Family Reunions

Well, it's that time of year again . . . family reunion time.

Once a year, on the first weekend of August, the Hayes family reunion takes place. It all began as a celebration of my great-grandfather's birthday. It has continued through his (and many of his children's) death(s). At this time of year, all of his decendants (or at least those who want to come) gather around to reconnect. As a child I really looked forward to this time. I got to hang out with lots of cousins that I never got to see except for this one time a year.

As an adult, I still look forward to it, but not in the same way. A lot of people don't make the effort to attend anymore. It's sad actually because there are so few of the "children" (my granddad and his 11 brothers and sisters) left. It seems like as the "children" pass away, there families stop coming. Not completely, but enough to notice the difference.

I can remember when I was a child that we all had name tags (in the shape of a tree, no less) with our names and also the name of the "child" that we belonged to. We always had about 200 people each year. Now, I would guess that we would struggle to reach 100, but I could be wrong.

Hopefully, the tradition won't die. My cousin seems to have taken on a lead role in the preparation for the past two years, maybe he will eventually step up and continue this after the current generation decides to step down.