Family

Agh, what a day. Still recovering from a stomach bug, and then eating freaking doritos yesterday... but because I have missed so much work the last two days I went in early to catch up.
Although at work I realized Average Girl was having a party over at her blog, so I couldn't help but stop by, have a few glasses of "wine" and then read about ten other blogs. So, maybe I didn't get that much done...

There's a family reunion at our hotel right now. They are all loud, drunk, and crazy. Children run from play room to dining room, and adults continually come up to me asking for a drink (even though I have nothing to do with the bar). Today was the first day, so it was extra insanity with everyone hugging, yelling hellos, and exclaiming how much Junior has grown, or asking when the baby is due.
I sat there in awe. Not too long ago that was how my mother's family got together every Thanksgiving, and I missed the excitement and love, and the tiny bit of stressful insanity that went along with family reunions. Since my brothers have married and the rest of us have grown and scattered, we haven't gotten together with my mom's family as much. I miss it.
But I am looking forward to the time when my family gets together for a reunion. When my brothers and their kids all return to my parents house and it's an insane racket of children running through the rooms, playing video games, tag, and making the adults crazy. My sisters-in-law will be tossing back glasses of wine, the boys drinking the drink of the moment - right now it's Old Fashions, and playing a vicious game of Apples to Apples.
I can just feel the excitement, the tinge of a buzz, hear the laughter, the yells, Clara running up to pull on my sleeve, asking why Grampy is sneaking downstairs.
Gosh, it has been far too long since we all got together.
My mom's family lives in two places. One of her brothers and one of her sisters live in our town. My grandparents have a house here, and a house in MA. The rest of my mom's siblings live in the same town in MA. It's where they grew up, and it's where they will stay. So everyone will remain close.
My family? One brother in Denmark, one in Seattle, one in Boston, one in Wisconsin. The rest here... but the girls are little, who knows where they will end up. Who knows where I will end up?
We are scattered all over, it takes a big event, like a wedding, to get us all in one place at the same time. And who knows when that will happen?

Hm, I didn't think this would be a depressing post... woops.