[speaker001:] all right have you ever been to a family reunion
[speaker002:] I go to a family reunion every year religiously it's the well I come from Iowa
[speaker001:] oh wow tell me about that
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] wow
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] is uh so what makes the reunion a good reunion
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] what do they do I mean they can be real boring I've I've been to a couple as a kid
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] okay so you must keep in touch with each other um other than at the reunion is that right
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] postcards letters whatever
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] yeah yeah that's
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] oh wow that is good so when so when you guys have your reunion uh
[speaker002:] um-hum it's
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] is is uh and and how do you allocate uh I mean how do you decide when you're going to meet and
[speaker002:] oh and that's set it's going to be it's always the first Sunday after the Fourth of July
[speaker001:] oh okay well the first Sunday after the Fourth of July has got to be hot right
[speaker002:] oh it is but then you can't find any time in Iowa when it's not hot in the summertime
[speaker001:] that's what I meant could be the springtime or something like that the kids are still in school then huh
[speaker002:] oh yeah uh-huh well okay but Iowa is very agricultural and spring is not a good time to try to do anything
[speaker001:] I see
[speaker002:] because so many were involved with agriculture so so do you have a reunion
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] uh-huh well you know with as many people as we have we're all over the US too
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] oh my what did you say your first name was Ralph
[speaker001:] but it's Ralph
[speaker002:] uh Ralph shouldn't act like that
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] oh okay
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] oh I see
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] okay there's difference yeah uh-huh
[speaker001:] 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