Ad hoc Family Reunion

Mom, Dad, Pam, and Sister "T"

"A" and cousins

Dad, Pam, and Sister "K"

Sister "T", cousins and Sister "K"

Warning - Our camera is crapping out on us so these will be a bit blurry. I have to get a new one.

This is going to be rather lengthy, I believe...

We planned to travel down to Lawrenceville GA to see my parents for Thanksgiving. What was to make it special what that they hadn't seen the last 3Who R Ours. And, we were to see my two brothers who hadn't met any of the 6 from Ethiopia. Well, actually I have one brother who I hadn't seen in almost 20 years (long story -another time perhaps), so he hadn't even met Pam or any of the kids. Then I find out just a couple of days before Thanksgiving, that my two sisters were going to be there too. One sister I hadn't seen in a few years hadn't met any of the kids from Ethiopia, and the other sister hadn't met the newest ones. OK, so we don't travel to visit each other much (we're kind of spread out, and there's always some excuse or other for someone not being there).

Unfortunately, my brother who I hadn't seen in 20 years couldn't be there (another long story) to see the kids, but all the rest of us were there. It was the first time in 30 YEARS that the 4 of us had been in the same place at the same time. It was 30 years ago September that I left home to join the Air Force.

Now I have 12 children (between hers, mine and ours) and 3 grandchildren; Brother "D" has one adult daughter; Sister, "K" has 4 adult children, and 2 grandchildren; Sister "T" has 5 children, and Brother "B" has 3 boys. So that's 25 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren for my parents. Of course we're spread out all of the country and we're no where close to being like The Waltons. But hey, I can dream.

Anyway, the get together was phenomenal! My parents have a little house, and we were all stepping all over each other trying to get around. The kids tried to play outside as much as they could. They played video games together, talked, went to the movies together. (I had 10 boys in our van - it was a blast!) My mama fretted about having such a small house, I had to reassure her that it's not the home that grandchildren remember, it's the love. And let me tell you there was LOVE all over that house. We had a blast, the kids had a blast, and my parents were in Grandma/Grandpa Heaven! My daddy got to sit and tell stories to my daughters - I get my humor and love for story telling from him. My mama got to sit and just watch her "grand babies" and she was in tears she was so happy.

Nothing on earth beats having a family.

A side note... Our family is working on being "trans ethnic". My birth family is African American, my wife is white (I figure Scotch/Irish-red hair abounds), one son is Chinese, and 6 children are Ethiopian. Our son "C" is dating a young lady who's El Salvadorean. Brother "B" was married to a Jamaican and he has the 3 boys. Sister "K" has one son married to a Russian young lady (They're both struggling models/actors in NYC), and has one daughter dating an Iranian young man (He's from Alabama, LOL). I can't wait for the family reunion 10 years from now. We'll have quite the pictures to share.