Second Annual Family Reunion

I’m back! It’s been a long time since I blogged. Truth is, I’ve been trying to get paid for my writing – with some success. One of the things on my list of “Things I Want to Do Before I Die” was to get something I’d written published. Thanks to my friend Kim, I’ve done that now. She had been writing for a regional magazine called Southern Distinction. She urged me to send them some of my stories. I put off doing it for a while, but finally wrote something and sent it in. It was a story about a time years ago when Mama and I went blueberry picking and got caught in a storm. I sent it in and waited – and waited. I never heard anything back so I had pretty much given up when Kim invited me to go with her to a meeting of all the writers for the magazine. I went and took my story with me. The editor met individually with each of us, and I showed her my story. She said she had never seen it. liked it, and immediately scheduled it for the magazine. One thing I have learned about publishing, you’ve got to get your material in front of the person who makes the decisions. Taking it to them in person works much better than sending it in. It took the same strategy to get my columns published in a local newspaper. Now he has agreed to publish one a month. It is a column on “Making Your House into a Home.” I’ve also published another article in Southern Distinction and went to the John C. Campbell Folk Art School to research another article that should come out in January. I can now call myself a freelance writer!

Today is Monday, October 08, 2007. It is the last day of our Second Annual Family Reunion. Deb and Rick just left, and Sean, Misty, Brent, and Kevin left last night. Dave and Janice are still asleep. I’m sitting here now with Daddy, Mary Jane, Mike, and Doug. We’ve had a ball! I pooped out last night, and had to go to bed about 10:00, but the others stayed up playing Balderdash and laughing themselves silly until about 11:00.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG WITH A SPECIAL BULLETIN!!! It’s RAINING!!!!
Actually, my blog was interrupted yesterday when we all started talking. (It’s now Tuesday.) After Deb, Rick, and Uncle Jim left, the rest of us went to the Huddle House to have breakfast; then, Dave, Janice, Chelsey, and Evelyn left. Then the great clean-up began! I took all the sheets and towels to the UN-air-conditioned Laundromat since Daddy was so worried about his well running dry. That took a couple of hours. Cindy vacuumed, my sisters packed up their stuff, and they left about 1:30. Then Doug and I put fresh sheets on all the beds and towels in the bathrooms and swept and mopped the vinyl floors. Daddy took the trash off. Doug and I got home about 6:00 PM and were pretty much pooped.

The reunion was great! I believe everyone had a very good time, and of course we ate way too much food. Some of us enjoyed the festival at the folk art school, at least until it got too hot. It was especially great to see Uncle Jim again for the first time in more years than I can remember. He looks really good, and seems to be doing quite well for his age. Evelyn did very well despite her Alzheimer’s, and Dixie only had one accident in the house. She really added a lot to the festivities; everyone loved playing with a puppy.

We had a ball playing games. The guys fussed, of course, about all the noise we were making, which disturbed their football games, but it was all in good fun. When things got too noisy, they could just go to the other house, and that’s just what they did. The loudest game was our four-way solitaire, but Balderdash was pretty loud as well.

What did we eat? Lots of desserts! I made an earthquake cake, sort of like German chocolate, and Mary Jane brought an apple cake that was to-die-for. (I think I ate most of that!) Cindy made two coconut praline pies. Mama made two sour cream coffee cakes. Janice brought lots of fruit (at least something was healthy), and mocha hot chocolate mix, which didn’t get drunk because it was so hot. I made taco soup which we ate Friday night when it was just Mama and Daddy, Mary Jane and Mike, Sean and Misty, and Doug and I. I fixed cornbread to go with it. The next day Deb and Rick arrived in the late morning. We made sandwiches for lunch. That night we had barbecue pork and stew. David and Janice did not arrive until late that evening as Dave got called into work that morning.

The next day we had breakfast casseroles and then went to the festival. That night Daddy grilled giant hamburgers. Between eating, we enjoyed just sitting around talking. Sean tried to teach me how to fly cast. We played Scrabble and worked a jigsaw puzzle on Friday. Sunday evening we sat on the deck for a long time, just visiting. And of course, I took lots of pictures!

This reunion was a great idea on Daddy’s part. I hope we keep up the tradition!