I’ve been away for two weeks, but am back now to fill you in on the shenanigans perpetrated by myself and my three siblings.

We hosted a Family Reunion in Georgia over a 3-day weekend. This was our brother Ted’s idea, who loves food and family and apparently needed an excuse to kill the fatted calf, several in fact, along with a few pigs and a couple of chickens.

Yes, we had the meats!

Leigh Ann’s amazing log cabin lodge, on a lake two hours north of Atlanta, served as the hub for the weekend. Carol and Robert hosted me and my cousins Wade and Kay in their beautiful home two doors down from Leigh’s.

Some backstory: Our mother Sue was the youngest of eight children born to Myrtie and John Boyd. They lived in tiny Fairburn, GA, just south of Atlanta. Six of the eight children had children, and those children had children and so on. There are 16 cousins living (we have lost only one.) We gathered for the first time in 2018 in Atlanta and decided to bring everyone together post pandemic to celebrate our family-hood once again, this time with jet skis.

Amazingly we had 38 people in attendance: 20 cousins and spouses, 12 grands and spouses, and 6 great-grands. Three of our cousins were unable to attend: one due to COVID, one taking care of an ill partner, and one battling a serious illness. And although our ages run the gamut from 61 to 86, there was not a cane or walker in site. We are a very hearty bunch.

And so we gathered and laughed and talked and reminisced. We ate and ate and ate. We (and by me I mean not me, because I, along with Carol, was a house elf) floated and boated and jetted around the lake facilitated by the deck crew: Leigh Ann, Carol’s husband Robert and our cousin Shannon (who has been in cahoots with Leigh since they were little.)

Everyone found their perfect way to reconnect with family–some distanced by time and some by actual distance, whether it was enjoying a leisurely boat ride or lingering over Ted’s brisket dinner or lounging on the lovely screened-in porch with a cold beverage.

It was a magical weekend. We have the memories and pictures to prove it.

But now I need a nap. . . and some of Ted’s brisket.