My father was transferred to Denver, Colorado in 1972 so that state has been home for much of my family ever since. In fact, that is where I met Judy and both of our children were born.
Judy and I eventually moved away and then so did two of my sister Kathy's children. So, getting the cousins together was rarely feasible.
When my father passed away in June, Kathy, my other sister Cindy, and I decided to have a memorial reception at Dad’s retirement community right away but to delay a more formal celebration of life until the Christmas season. This way, we would have an opportunity to gather all of Dad’s descendants and spouses together at the same time. This could be a true family reunion at last!
It was a tall order though with one family in Massachusetts, three in Georgia, one in Germany and three in Colorado.
Miracle of miracles, on Dec 28, all 26 of us assembled in the memorial garden at Mom and Dad's church to inter Dad’s ashes with Mom’s, which had been there for 14 years.
It was a brief but memorable service just for the family and the church could not have been more welcoming. We were even able to gather for a group photo. You will only see 25 in the photo, though, because one of the five year olds was pouting and decided he didn’t want to be in the photo (oh, well).
We spent the weekend enjoying various group activities that were focused on letting Dad’s 10 great grandchildren play. Some of them had never met before!
Who knows if we will ever be able to pull everyone together again. But we did it once…and it was beautiful! Isn't family wonderful?
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