Two gatherings
 |
| April 30, 2017 |
 |
| August 9, 2008 |
"I'm having all the nieces and nephews and spouses who can to come for dinner on Sunday night, April 30," Aunt Rachel told me in our telephone conversation. Just an ordinary family gathering ? Hardly. For starters, there are twenty living cousins . . . five having died. Then, there is the incidental fact that Rachel will be 90 on her next birthday in September.
"What can we bring?" was the first question. Initially she said "Nothing". Then she said that anyone who wanted to do so could bring a "side dish"; otherwise, she and her two children and their spouses would be preparing all the food and beverage. In earlier posts, I have lauded her cooking skills --- especially her chicken and dumplings. But the magnitude of this . . . well.
Rachel is sole survivor of twelve siblings, ten of whom reached adulthood. Two of those had no children, although Aunt Ruth suffered a stillbirth. Of twenty, fourteen gathered at my cousin and husband's house across the street from Rachel.
Perhaps like other families in our mobile society, we gather these days primarily for Rites of Passage, notably funerals. Since the older of the above pictures was made (at Uncle Ken's funeral), mom and Rachel's last sister has died, as have three of the cousins in that picture. In comparing the photos, I realized that three living cousins in the earlier picture missed last Sunday's gathering. Added were two, including my brother from New Hampshire and a cousin from New York City, who had been unable to attend the earlier gathering. And three had missed both events.
So, what did we do? We ate, and then ate more. There was also
an array of sweet delicacies from which to choose, including authentic New York cheesecake that Cousin Carolyn had brought. For my part, I skipped the sweets and had a second serving of Rachel's signature chicken and dumplings.
 |
| Rachel welcomes everyone before Brother Bob (far right) returns Thanks |
Then, there were the 'Stories' - - - many 'oldie goldies' from the older cohort of cousins. Five of us were born prior to World War II or just as it was starting. Several were born soon after the war and in the following two decades. My cousin, Pat, wrote on her Facebook site: "my mom cooked most of the food and everyone enjoyed it and especially enjoyed hearing some of the old stories from the 'older' cousins who actually knew and remembered our grandparents. A lot of us never got to meet them." Well, Pat, there were a lot of colorful karakters in our group.
 |
| I enjoyed passing on some of the 'family lore'. Pat's husband, Carl, may have been wondering what he had married into. |
 |
| They started it all . . . Our grand-parents soon after their marriage. |
Maybe we should do this more often . . .
Satchel
No comments:
Post a Comment