okay have you ever
your family have reunions on any regular basis
probably once every five years
once every five years
um-hum
yeah um you have a pretty big family
yeah and the hardest part about getting the family the stuff together is everyone's spread out all over Timbuktu
oh yeah
and you
yeah we've got a pretty big family but most of us live well i'm well i'm originally from West Virginia
um-hum
most of the family is right in the West Virginia area uh what they call the Tristate area uh northern West Virginia Eastern Ohio and Southwestern Southwestern Pennsylvania
yeah
most everybody is right in that area
that makes it a lot easier a lot more convenient that's why we only do it once every five or ten years because it's like that hard to get everyone together
yeah
yeah they put one together for our family about once every June it was on my grandmother's birthday but she's
she's gone now
yeah see that's kind of what happened with ours that's why we hadn't had one in a long time
yeah
um
so so to make one successful what i mean what do y'all do do y'all just start planning real far ahead of time
oh shoot
pardon
do you um do y'all start planning real far ahead of time
well no there's kind of a set pattern to it there's uh so the day it happens is ninety eight percent of the planning usually
oh really
yeah oh the we get together at the the uh the park uh
the uh
park and playground area of the church i was raised in
yeah
and uh
everybody brings lots of food and
we'll put up a volleyball net
just sit around and tell stories and catch up and
play volleyball all day and get really fat
eat a lot see it's a lot harder for us because we're like i say we're spread out so they have to plan anywhere from six well really probably a year ahead of time so everyone can say um
oh goodness
yeah
scheduled vacation time
their their vacation time
yeah we usually just Saturday Saturday uh Sunday afternoon
um-hum
or maybe sometimes it's been like on Saturday afternoon usually it's like Sunday afternoon and most people don't have more than you know a couple hours drive tops to get there and back
yeah
now is that where you're i mean is
well where i'm calling from is southern Mississippi so we got a ways uh uh my wife and i have a bit longer ways to go than most
but y'all still manage to make them
uh actually we've only made one of them since we got married about four years ago one of the family reunions but we're both in school so it makes it kind of tough
yeah
yeah
they usually they been happening um
just after the summer semester starts
you can't really get away
so usually not we managed to get to one that was before i started to school and she took that summer off
but uh
well now that we've been talking about it i'm gonna i'm kind of getting home sick now because it's been over three years since i've been home
oh
yeah oh goodness
to see my grandparents or well my my grandfather's the only one that's still around
yeah
and see my grandmother was the one that used to plan the stuff basically
yeah
so unless the aunts and uncles really get on the ball and put stuff together it's kind of like she was like the glue so
yeah i understand
where is home for you
originally um i was born in Missouri
yeah
so and you know we have relatives scattered out all over Louisiana Mississippi
um here in Texas so it's harder for everyone to get in get home
yeah
yeah well maybe this year you can find a more central location
now well but see the majority of them are in like just like how you said in close close quarters so it's easier for us few stragglers to go home
oh okay okay the majority of them are still in the Missouri area
yeah
okay
yeah our family right now or most there's there's there's only like few stragglers
uh if any with any distance yeah some of us there's one cousin uh in Colorado and
uh some cousins over in Phoenix
uh i got a sister over in in uh
Washington state
well
uh rest of them are within you know a couple hours drive
well um how do y'all communicate like to plan it and everything do y'all just call each other up on the phone and say this is the weekend we're gonna do it or do y'all like mail out stuff
that's pretty much it yeah okay it's gonna be such and such a weekend and uh y'all come that's about it
yeah
i mean you know this is the standard pattern is the
everybody brings their their favorite dish and
somebody brings the volleyball net somebody brings a whole lot of ice for the watermelon and
well um
i guess probably the last one i went to i met so many people that i hadn't seen in probably ten over ten years it was like don't you remember me and i'm like no
am i related to you yeah i married your cousin's brother's uncle uh something like that
yeah i know
do you i mean is that since you i mean do you have them every year
uh yeah they're every year and and still you wind up meeting people you you you never knew you were related to let alone
well see it's probably not that
yeah
yeah
well i think that's probably why our's always so interesting is because we don't have them that often and then when we do
yeah
and everyone does finally get together it's like after the you know the just like
down right amazing isn't it
yeah
