WE ARE FAMILY This past week’s been uber hectic to say the least. My family had a reunion type of shindig go down. These gatherings are kind of a big deal for my family. For one, they’re rare in them ever happening often because of how far everyone lives (not to mention timing and schedules… you’d have to have planetary alignments for this thing to work). Secondly, and I think the most important, and rather miraculous, is that it served as a reminder of just how strong family ties are. I’ll be the first to admit, my family’s not been well the past decade. Not that we’re struggling with living or anything, it’s just that you would be hard pressed to not notice just how fragmented and distanced everyone is from one another. Drama accumulating over the years, financial woes, health issues for some, and the passing of a figurehead in the family (the “big brother” type), among other things, and it’s not hard to see how this adds up. I’m no exception to this, despite how spectator-ish I’m sounding right now. But bless this particular family of mine, they’ve managed to pull through and just live without completely imploding in on itself. I’ve always wanted to have a cousin reunion for the longest time, specifically a road trip with all the fellow third-generation kids. It’s something that was on my mind ever since middle school. That idea was somewhat realized this past week when it encompassed the entire family. Not surprisingly, it was set up by a third-generation child (my older cousin). What I was surprised with, was how on board everyone was with the idea. It was basically conceived and green-lit within a matter of days. Next thing I knew, we had family members from SoCal, Seattle, Texas, and even as a far as Hawaii, all converging on the Bay Area. That first day, Monday, was the highlight of the entire week for me personally, even though the actual “reunion” event itself was the next day (it was a picnic out in a pretty sweet park out in the boonies in the middle of nowhere hahaha). Everyone was greeting one another, hugging, laughing, telling stories, all within our backyard, which typically doesn’t have much going on in it apart from my grandma’s daily gardening. What was pretty cool was that the family was divided into two groups: the second generation (our parents) with their mother and us, the third-generation, the kids. It was pretty surreal to say the least. I also got to meet some long lost cousins of mine for the first time! My first and second ones to be exact. And they were super awesome peoples. Would not mind hanging out with these two again sometime in the future. Preferably soon hahaha. Anywho, I could go on about the picnic headliner itself, but that’d be a whole lot of me repeating myself with just food and subsequent food comas added in (and your standard outdoor activities like football and softball), so I’ll refrain from doing that. Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of a hangout or a get together, whether it be family or friends. Especially if you haven’t seen, spoke, or just interacted with them for a long time. Distance really does make the heart fonder in this case. I believe in it. We are family, everybody get up and sing -“We Are Family” by Sister Sledge

WE ARE FAMILY

This past week’s been uber hectic to say the least. My family had a reunion type of shindig go down. These gatherings are kind of a big deal for my family. For one, they’re rare in them ever happening often because of how far everyone lives (not to mention timing and schedules… you’d have to have planetary alignments for this thing to work). Secondly, and I think the most important, and rather miraculous, is that it served as a reminder of just how strong family ties are.

I’ll be the first to admit, my family’s not been well the past decade. Not that we’re struggling with living or anything, it’s just that you would be hard pressed to not notice just how fragmented and distanced everyone is from one another. Drama accumulating over the years, financial woes, health issues for some, and the passing of a figurehead in the family (the “big brother” type), among other things, and it’s not hard to see how this adds up. I’m no exception to this, despite how spectator-ish I’m sounding right now. But bless this particular family of mine, they’ve managed to pull through and just live without completely imploding in on itself.

I’ve always wanted to have a cousin reunion for the longest time, specifically a road trip with all the fellow third-generation kids. It’s something that was on my mind ever since middle school. That idea was somewhat realized this past week when it encompassed the entire family. Not surprisingly, it was set up by a third-generation child (my older cousin). What I was surprised with, was how on board everyone was with the idea. It was basically conceived and green-lit within a matter of days. Next thing I knew, we had family members from SoCal, Seattle, Texas, and even as a far as Hawaii, all converging on the Bay Area.

That first day, Monday, was the highlight of the entire week for me personally, even though the actual “reunion” event itself was the next day (it was a picnic out in a pretty sweet park out in the boonies in the middle of nowhere hahaha). Everyone was greeting one another, hugging, laughing, telling stories, all within our backyard, which typically doesn’t have much going on in it apart from my grandma’s daily gardening. What was pretty cool was that the family was divided into two groups: the second generation (our parents) with their mother and us, the third-generation, the kids. It was pretty surreal to say the least.

I also got to meet some long lost cousins of mine for the first time! My first and second ones to be exact. And they were super awesome peoples. Would not mind hanging out with these two again sometime in the future. Preferably soon hahaha. Anywho, I could go on about the picnic headliner itself, but that’d be a whole lot of me repeating myself with just food and subsequent food comas added in (and your standard outdoor activities like football and softball), so I’ll refrain from doing that.

Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of a hangout or a get together, whether it be family or friends. Especially if you haven’t seen, spoke, or just interacted with them for a long time. Distance really does make the heart fonder in this case. I believe in it.

We are family, everybody get up and sing

-“We Are Family” by Sister Sledge

  • 07.09.11