Family

Today has been a big family gathering. I've seen people I haven't seen in more than a decade, and even met some folks I didn't know before. My brother, Jim, wanted to have everyone to their house today and so we all showed up. And when I say, "all," I mean all - including his granddaughter and my great niece, Leslie, who I hadn't seen in many, many years. She lives in Mississippi.

I affectionately refer to both Jackie and Jim as "big brother," because to me they both are my older brothers. But there's less than two year's difference between them, so I'm the only one who can call Jim "Big Brother." For some reason that occurred to me as I was driving to Kentucky.

It was a day filled with lots of laughter and lots of stories. Wayne is a big story teller, as are Jackie and Bobby, my brother Jackie's son's. I seem quiet by comparison, if you can imagine. That's Wayne in the photo above with his mother, Mattie.

To the right here is Angie, Wayne's oldest daughter and Mattie and Jim's oldest grandchild. She was there with her husband who I'd not met before and their kids.

Angie's son, Alex, turned six this week. His new sister, Hannah, is nine. They were less than excited about all of these people they didn't really know. Remember when your parents made you go to some boring function with lots of people you didn't know and there wasn't anyone fun to play with? Exactly.

Frankly, they did very well, playing for a long time. I think maybe the Easter Bunny had made an early visit.

Some of Mattie's brothers and one of her sisters were there today. I hadn't seen any of them in ages, so it was cool to see them. She also had some cousins visiting I'd never met before.

Kenneth, on the left here, lives in Wisconsin, so we don't get to see him very often. He was catching up with Bobby and Jackie. Kenneth is the baby in Mattie's family.

Bobby and Cathy (above) and Jackie and Kim (below) all live here so I get to see them whenever I come in. They're all great fun to be around.

I am thrilled that Mattie and Jim are living here, now, too. That means that I get to see them much more often, as well as their sons, Wayne and Johnny.

Somehow my nephew, Johnny, escaped my camera lens today. I'll have to make up for that tomorrow. I had not met his girlfriend, Leah, until today. She is very sweet. I got the feeling she didn't care too much for having her photo taken.

That's Leah on the right, and Joyce on the left. Joyce is Wayne's significant other.

I love having both my brothers in one place. That's Mary Ann and Jackie in the photo below.

I was struck by technology today, more than once. Not only were there a couple of us taking digital pix, but whenever a phone would ring, it meant a dozen people had to check to see if it was their phone. Also, phones were the digital photo conveyance of choice.

To show pictures of kids...

and pictures of horses... (it IS Kentucky, after all)

I'm really blessed to have family I enjoy. I thought I'd try to share photos since I talk about everyone occasionally. As I said, Johnny escaped me today but I'll try to correct that tomorrow.

And this is an opportune time to suggest that you make plans now for a summertime family reunion. You may discover there are people you're related to that you like on multiple levels.