WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
RELATIVES: People who come to dinner who are not friends.
Do you remember when you were young and your parents would have someone over for dinner that you really did not know and you wondered why they were invited? Often times they were older people, so there were no children to play with, and you may have been told to play quietly in another room. (Children were to be seen and not heard.) After they left, you dared to ask who they were. Sometimes they were a great-aunt or uncle to one of your parents and they were visiting from some far-off place.
My Grandfather Larsen lived with us and I remember that he would have family of one of his brothers or sisters come to see him. He came from a family of 12, so there were several relatives visiting at times. His birthday was June 1; we always had a big family gathering on the Sunday close to that date and had to have a very good excuse if we didn’t show up. Now, we would like to know more about all those people. Maybe we don’t remember what their names were. I can remember going to different houses and find out they were cousins of Mom or Dad. Maybe we would not see them again for a long time.
I realize back when our parents were young it was harder to make visits on Sunday afternoon, if any distance was involved. Quite often, families, for the most part, did not live far apart. We all have pictures of large family gatherings where we can’t put names on all the people. I know in my own family, when someone came from a distance, they stayed for at least a week.
Memories that are more fun are when aunts or uncles and lots of cousins to play with would come. Perhaps you had a grandpa or grandma that would be patient enough to teach you how to play solitaire, cribbage, 500, pitch, checkers, Chinese checkers and more. At this time of the year, our families get together maybe several times at different homes to sample each one’s speciality. My mother and her sisters all had different cookies, etc. that they would make and we would go to each of their homes to visit and to eat.
I am sure we remember special times when we were growing up that we like to talk and laugh over with our cousins when we get together. Don’t pass up the chance if it comes your way.
gbs