By Vicki Scott
Our family reunion on my father’s side took place this past Saturday. My, how times have changed. The crowd of kinfolk at this reunion have died down from about 200 to a handful of people.
On my mother’s side, reunions consisted of going to church on Sunday morning and eating together afterward. I do not even know if they hold reunions anymore, which is a shame.
A movie from 1980, Honeysuckle Rose, included a scene about a family reunion. It reminded me of our family reunions on my father’s side, at which there were about 200 people sitting under a pavilion with two long tables full of food. There were two pools, one for wading and one for swimming. We would swim all we could and then eat because we had to wait 30 minutes to swim after eating.
During that downtime, several people pulled out musical instruments and played bluegrass music. It was as if the writer of Honeysuckle Rose was watching our family reunion because of all the similarities.
For as long as I can remember, my father’s side of the family includes teachers, musicians, pharmacists, doctors and the occasional athlete. However, there were more musicians than any other profession. My grandfather could play any stringed instrument by ear, my grandmother played the piano and my uncle played the guitar. My father put both of my two brothers and me through years of piano lessons. I have also had guitar and chorus classes in high school. I was not interested back then but I am now, so much so that my husband and I are currently taking guitar lessons.
When I mentioned it to the handful of kinfolks at this year’s family reunion, I found that we still have many relatives playing music, some who played in bands after retiring from work. One relative went out to his car and came back with a guitar. He tried to get me to play but I informed him that I only had three lessons. I said that I should be ready to play at next year’s reunion.
We enjoyed good music, fun and fellowship. Hopefully I’ll feel comfortable with one musical instrument next year and I’ll persuade our children and grandchildren to attend. I think they would love it. Family reunions are so important in order to see at relatives least once a year. Maybe we can pull together to build our family reunion back up to 200.
Contact Vicki Scott at lily200383@yahoo.com.