Another Year Passing

Every year, when we arrive at our reunion, it seems as if it were only yesterday when we packed up and left it the year before. However, at the same time, it is amazing to see how much the little ones have changed...grown...matured. It seems a miracle to see babies who weren't yet born the year before or moms-to-be carrying children who will be part of our gathering next year. This reunion consists of Jeff's mom, her three sisters, and all of their families, as well as the families of their sister who was lost to cancer. During our big meal, where all of the families gather outside of one of the cabins and eat together, I looked around at all of the individual families and thought of how one day they could all have their own reunions just as we have this one. A family of five could one day grow into the large, wonderful extended family that we are all a part of today...a part of because of my mother-in-law and her sisters...because of their mother and father. It's almost too much to think of to imagine so many members of one family all gathered in one place with Jeff and me at the center of it all.....Madison, Patrick, and Carter branching out from us, instead of clinging to us, with families of their own. It's hard to imagine and wonderful to think of all at the same time. It puts in perspective for me my respect for Jeff's mom and her sisters and for the men they built their lives with. I wish my mother-in-law's parents, Clemmie and Waylon, were still here. I know they would be proud of what they have given to this world. When you have family, life on this earth doesn't end for you when you are gone. Life is so much more than what you do while you are here....it is also what you leave behind when you go.

Grandmother Clemmie and her family

Grandfather Waylon and his family
Watson family reunion 2007