Family Ties

I recently returned from a trip to the beautiful state of Indiana. Every couple years or so, my family gathers together for a reunion at a beautiful plantation mansion just outside of the historic town of Madison. Overlooking the Ohio River, this site has been the gathering space for celebrating graduations, weddings, baptisms, and anniversaries. Our weekends are usually filled with fun and relaxing activities-swimming, running around with the kids, eating DQ, and playing corn hole.

Although I was excited to see my family, I was also a bit nervous. I’m not that great at keeping in touch with all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma, but it turns out my anxiety and fears were pretty unfounded. As usual, my family picked up where we left off, and (it seems) we enjoyed catching up with one another, reading out loud from “shit my dad says,” touring grandma’s garden, and participating in graduation festivities.

While sitting with my family on the patio during Abbey’s graduation party, my brother Tony mentioned to me something my grandma had shared with him. As she pointed to all of her children, grandchildren, and now great grandchildren- she exclaimed: “Look! I started all this!” Now, my grandma has a pretty feisty personality, and at times, we have not always gotten along because of our differing views of politics, religion, etc. But, during this past reunion, I decided to refrain from any of these sorts of discussions and focus on learning from grandma and respecting her wisdom. At 87, she appears to have more strength and vigor than most people in their 20s do. As I walked through her garden and learned about how to plant corkscrew willows and nurture African violets, I wondered at her understanding and respect for nature. Although she has more plants than she knows what to do with, she admits, “I just have to keep growing stuff!” I couldn’t help but think that at her age, it must be pretty remarkable to look out at her family and her garden and exclaim, “Look, I started all this!”