My brother from L.A. meets me once or twice a year in our former hometown. Our sister, her husband, my granddaughter, our step-father still live there as do former neighbors, classmates and old friends. We try to see them all but this year we also had two reunions on our "to do" list.
On Sunday, May 19th, we drove to our first reunion in Kansas City. Our cousin Kim had invited 2nd and 3rd cousins, their spouses, children and people we hadn't seen for decades. We shared stories, genealogy and photos, ate a wonderful lunch, drank wine and laughed a lot. Time spent apart seemed to melt away as the Kirkpatricks, Stuarts, and Kennedys names in our history, linked us together in a way only family can.
The Great Wizard of Oz said: "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others."
Our reunion next spring, we vow, will be bigger than this year. We will contact more cousins and gather more genealogy on our family. The links in the chain.......go on and on.
As the afternoon flew by, we became increasingly aware of an approaching storm. As the clouds gathered we said our goodbyes and headed south.
We took a different route to Wichita, avoiding the high wind and heavy rains as best we could, but, as the pictures show, this is what we drove into.
This was the day before the Moore, Oklahoma tornado.
The next week was busy meeting with friends and family over meals and shopping. We talked and laughed as siblings do; sharing old family jokes and stories and remembering loved ones who are no longer with us. We decorated their graves on Memorial Day, filling the bronze urns with fresh iris and peonies from our sister's garden.
Just as our Mother and Grandmother did before us.
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