Standing under a tree as the shady spot shrinks on a hot summer day or sitting in a cramped but luxurious trailer to escape mosquitoes at dusk can bring friends and family closer together, but summer is also a great time for reunions.
I've attended high school reunions, but I like family reunions much better. I've always liked my family members and they didn't bully me for the worst few years of my life.
Family reunions in small towns are great. Even people who don't share DNA are happy to see folks come back to the community they grew up in. Most of the time a weekend only gives an opportunity to have a good visit with a few people and not enough time to catch up with the others who have come back to Saskatchewan from around the country.
On one side of my family I'm lucky enough to know all of my first cousins and all of their children and I'm grateful to actually like and want to spend time with each and every one of them.
I haven't seen some of the cousins on the other side for years and would love to catch up. It would be a true reunion with those family members as we aren't as close as we were when we were children.
I run into some of these cousins at odd times in unexpected places and I'm always surprised and delighted, thinking I should organize a reunion. There are always surprises and as generations mature it is great to see what choices and changes have occurred.
I have relatives in politics, business, education, nursing, engineering and commerce. As a Saskatchewan girl I am most proud to report I have several cousins slightly younger than myself who have taken over family farm operations or work alongside their parents taking risks, working hard and succeeding as every generation has since my great grandfather came to Canada in 1911.
Reunions are a time to celebrate the present and look back at those who have gone before. When someone suggested a Sunday morning walk to the cemetery, my children, husband and I were glad to join the procession. My children have spent far too much time in graveyards saying goodbye, but they enjoy exploring old cemeteries wondering what happened to those laid to rest.
Spending time together and walking among the headstones with extended family gave us a chance to hear some stories we were unfamiliar with and we were reunited with the dead as well as the living feeling a greater connection to those we already hold so dear.
