A La Famille



2007 Thanksgiving hilarity

When we truly care for ourselves, it becomes possible to care far more profoundly about other people.  The more alert and sensitive we are to our own needs, the more loving and generous we can be toward others.                    Eda LeShan


To be honest, to be kind---to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole family happier for your presence... to keep friends with yourself---here is a task for all...                                                Robert Louis Stevenson

2009 some of the kids

We have learned that the most treasured, wonderful times that we have is our time with our family. It's a big family that one of my sisters refers to as the U.N. because it is so varied by race, religion, sexual preference, age, marital status and belief.

I am of the persuasion: 'the more the merrier' and love it when we can gather as many of the clan as we can get together. The height of this was in 1997 when we decided to paint our house and wanted to hire our brother-in-law Steve from the mid-west to do the job. Naturally my sister Kathleen would accompany him and since Flynn was a teen still at home, he would come to help as well. Then another sister, Trisha heard that they were coming and decided that it would be fun if she and Caroline and Julia could join us. Well, my mother heard about that  got her ticket. The two other sisters, Florence and Sally who lived relatively close came and... I think you're getting my drift.

2010 same kids one year later
A marvelous things we do every year is have a reunion.

 With the addition of surprise guests and friends we ended up with twenty seven for dinner one night. Did I mention that it was a very hot July and all of the windows were sealed with plastic? Or mention when we had to go in and out of the house each time we had to remove some of the tape and then carefully restore it? Somehow we not only got the house painted but everyone got fed splendidly.

Was it chaotic? Yes, but worth it. So worth it, as a matter of fact, that my Mom painted a picture of fifteen of us dining outside our lawn on the very picnic tables that you see above and below. The painting is quite charming. I have it hanging in my kitchen to remember for all times. Food, family a la fresco in July of '97.

One of the key ingredients in having a successful reunion is that the hosts have to make sure this is something they really want to do [I did, Mr. G, not so much] and also take impeccable care of yourself while you are doing it. I took time off work, crucial for me, and made sure everyone was fed and having fun. I also am very protective of my sleep and tried my best to get at least seven hours even at the most stressful times. Perhaps these things are obvious but looking back I can see that no one wants to be around a crabby, disorganized, very tense host so I made sure I wasn't.

The family left in dribs and drabs and the last to stand were the painters themselves: my brother-in-law, my sis and her son. To show our appreciation we treated them and ourselves to a kayak trip around one of the outer islands.  It felt so incredible to be out on the water after all that hard work of the painting and the reunion. In the kayaks I was with Mr. G, my sister was with my brother-in-law, and one of our sons was with the teen. All of us were aglow with excitement and the beautiful weather and the calm waters before us. My heart was so full.

2017 summer

As were completing our trip, rounding the last island, I looked up and in the distance spotted a pod of Orcas. "Oh, my God, are you all lucky. They're coming right for us!" We stopped paddling and sure enough onward they came. "You're not going to believe this," I said, "but there, from the north comes another pod!" I  hardly could containing my excitement. Even though we also had the obnoxious Whale watch boats at our backs, we were pulsing with joy. The pods converged, spy hopping, breaching, all around us, the feeling of being in the middle of that was incredible. But the best, and I had never heard of this before, were the two young male Orcas who breached right in front of us with six foot long hard-ons on display. "Oh, MY," said a female voice from one of the tour boats. "They did that for you" I said to my sister. We started laughing and couldn't stop. Finally after  the Orcas swam on by and the teen Orcas took their genitilia and left, we paddled to shore and then went out to a grand dinner to celebrate that rare and precious day. Twice blessed in more ways than one.

susansmagicfeather copyright 2012 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved