Last Friday (the 11th) Clif, Ainsley, Gatsby and I drove across some very tall, very steep, very curvy mountains to attend my annual family reunion in WV. My dad is one of 7 siblings and every year the reunion moves to a new location...to one of the 7 homes. This year it was in WV. We ended up at the top of the mountain right around sun set, it was so beautiful.
Not really the best pictures since they were taken through the windshield, but really it was a breathtaking sight. I had been so stressed about leaving town so late and this was our reward for doing so. It was like we were even with the horizon and looking straight at the sun. Sometimes it even felt like we were looking down on the clouds. It's hard to put into words how amazing it was.
Unfortunately the family reunion always ends too soon and it's a year before I see most of the family again. I wish I could find the time to visit them all more often. The day we leave I always think "this year I'm going to visit this person or that person" but life just gets in the way and before you know it another year is gone.
Love to all my family, I miss them and wish that we all lived closer.
Saturday is usually the main day of the reunion. That morning all the guys get up really early and go to play golf. The girls all stay home, go shopping, cook, gab, whatever really. I know, it's very 1950's but it's just the way it's always been, and really I wouldn't want to go golfing anyway. I love sitting around with my cousins and my aunts and hearing stories about when they were young and reminiscing about the old days. It's really fun.
I am the oldest of all of my cousins (22 in all) and there are only 4 of us that have children. My cousin Shelley's kids are a little older - in grade school, but my cousins Jessica and Becca both have little kids only about a year older than Ainsley. Caiden (Jessica's little boy) just loved Ainsley. They were holding hands and giving each other kisses. It was just too cute.
After all the guys come back from golfing we eat...a lot...then we eat some more and then finally we all go play softball. I did not play this year because I was chasing Ainsley around the field. It's crazy to see all my little cousins all grown and becoming men and women. We started this family tradition the year after my grandmother passed away. That's 12 years ago. I was in college then and there were all these little kids running around every where in those days. Now the majority of the "kids" are in high school, graduating from high school or in college. It's just crazy how fast the time goes.
Unfortunately the family reunion always ends too soon and it's a year before I see most of the family again. I wish I could find the time to visit them all more often. The day we leave I always think "this year I'm going to visit this person or that person" but life just gets in the way and before you know it another year is gone.
Love to all my family, I miss them and wish that we all lived closer.
Tomorrow I will share some stories from our trip to Nags Head
