all right have you ever been to a family reunion
 	
 	
 		
 
 		i go to a family reunion every year religiously it's the  well i come from Iowa
 	
 	
 		oh wow tell me about that
 	
 	
 		my mother was one of nine children in the family
 		uh seven of those children are still living and uh the family has grown of course and we get uh about a hundred and fifty people a year
 	
 	
 		wow
 	
 	
 		that show up at this family reunion
 		i had come from a large like i say a large family i had forty four first cousins on my mother's side and we all know each other pretty well and
 		and uh so it's a wonderful occasion when we get together and we don't see everybody each year but you know alternate years we get to see most everybody
 	
 	
 		is uh
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		so what makes the reunion a good reunion
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		what do they do i mean they can be real boring i've i've been to a couple as a kid
 	
 	
 		
 
 		well you have to go with the right spirit of course uh i think what makes our family reunions so good is that we there is so much love that is shared there
 		uh
 	
 	
 		okay so you must keep in touch with each other
 		um other than at the reunion is that right
 	
 	
 		well yeah many of us do actually uh
 		i'm in my fifties now and my mother came from a generation where the only option was writing
 	
 	
 		okay
 	
 	
 		postcards letters whatever
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		uh and she used to correspond with her sisters quite religiously
 		and they with her so and of course that older generation still always sends all of us Christmas cards and it's wonderful you know
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah that's
 	
 	
 		so uh but it it ours is the type of family if i had no place to be i could call anyone of my aunts or my cousins and they would say come and stay with me for a few weeks
 	
 	
 		oh wow that is good so when so when you guys have your reunion uh
 	
 	
 		um-hum it's
 	
 	
 		now i'm sure that sounds like you guys are pretty satisfied what about your
 		your uh how how what do you do for the kids
 	
 	
 		oh well
 		uh these attitudes are projected down to the kids
 		that this is the place where we really want to go and and we can have a good time it's not a boring thing uh i guess once in awhile about thirteen or so maybe it's a little boring for them
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		if if they haven't been there enough years to have formed friendships but my kids went every year and therefore they knew you know a lot of the other kids
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		so then you kind of look forward to seeing some of these second cousins once a year
 		we do go to uh it's Clear Lake Iowa where we hold it and we make every effort in the world to get the shelter house
 		so we have a facility where we can be inside but yet the kids can go and be in the lake if they want to
 	
 	
 		is is uh and and how do you allocate uh i mean how do you decide when you're going to meet and
 	
 	
 		oh and that's set it's going to be it's always the first Sunday after the Fourth of July
 	
 	
 		oh okay well the first Sunday after the Fourth of July has got to be hot right
 	
 	
 		oh it is but then you can't find any time in Iowa when it's not hot in the summertime
 	
 	
 		
 
 		that's what i meant could be the springtime or something like that the kids are still in school then huh
 	
 	
 		oh yeah uh-huh well okay but Iowa is very agricultural and spring is not a good time to try to do anything
 	
 	
 		i see
 	
 	
 		because so many were involved with agriculture so so do you have a reunion
 	
 	
 		well my kids my parents uh
 		used to have reunions and and uh we'd go and
 		and uh actually i kind of remember it as a lot of as a lot of fun but it's been
 		very tough to talk my kids into the idea of meeting any of the relatives uh i don't know exactly why that's true i think part of it's because they're
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		uh
 		they just don't know anybody and we our family is all scattered out we started in California but uh now everybody's
 		all over the United States these days
 	
 	
 		uh-huh well you know with as many people as we have we're all over the US too
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		but uh
 	
 	
 		i yeah i i know that there's a difference but i haven't quite even even locally uh
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		i i guess i've got a brother that lives uh about a five hour drive from here and i haven't seen him for
 		twenty years so that tells you something about my
 	
 	
 		oh my
 		what did you say your first name was Ralph
 	
 	
 		but it's
 		Ralph
 	
 	
 		uh Ralph shouldn't act like that
 	
 	
 		no no i shouldn't i'm uh i have to admit that it's
 		but when i hear these uh well of course i was the last of eight see
 	
 	
 		oh okay
 	
 	
 		the very last of eight and my parents were both married before and and uh
 		so i only have half brothers and half sisters so that's i guess that's part of it they were all grown by the time i came along and uh
 	
 	
 		oh i see
 	
 	
 		i shouldn't say all grown but anyway it's it's one of those uh
 		um i was always the you're their kid you're their kid and i'm not saying they're not nice but but uh
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		you you know we don't have those stories
 	
 	
 		okay there's difference yeah uh-huh
 	
 	
 		real close uh uh
 		i was always the little kid i'll put it that way so that's and then the other side of it and the other thing too is that my parents uh
 		uh my dad had five kids