[speaker001:] now we're ready yeah I had a
[speaker002:] there we go okay
[speaker001:] a family reunion this past year first time in many many years and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and I had uh three of my sisters there with their family and we all got together in Gatlinburg Tennessee and
[speaker002:] oh great oh
[speaker001:] spent the week there up in the mountains and rented a little little house little house and
[speaker002:] how nice
[speaker001:] sort of visited and got to know each other we hadn't been been around each other for quite a while over the years so it really was sort of nice
[speaker002:] oh well that is nice was it was it awkward at first or did it work out fairly fairly good
[speaker001:] well it worked out fairly well you know as a kid I don't know about yourself but we used to have big reunions and it was so nice and
[speaker002:] yes uh-huh
[speaker001:] you know it's just something that you don't do anymore and uh we had such a good time that
[speaker002:] right um-hum
[speaker001:] that we're already deciding to have one in two years say in Disney World or somewhere in Florida just get together and
[speaker002:] oh great uh-huh
[speaker001:] just something you need to make time for
[speaker002:] now are you from from quite a ways away from each other so that you don't see each other real often
[speaker001:] yes we are we're sort of uh we're in Texas and I have sisters in North Carolina West Virginia Virginia Florida everywhere Georgia
[speaker002:] oh oh yes
[speaker001:] so we don't get to see each other very often
[speaker002:] oh yes okay well we have um several different reunions when I was like you say when I was growing up we had a lot of family reunions and they were the extent of the cousins and you know relatives and great-aunts and and uncles and um those have dwindled down to just we go to one a year we have one at Christmas time and it's my father's family and
[speaker001:] sure well that's great
[speaker002:] yes it is and it and these are people that we see you know just once maybe twice a year
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and we get together then and have a Christmas party and and you know have a dinner and a program and renew acquaintances and um and then in the summer on my mom's side of the family we we go camping up in up in the mountains like you mentioned yes it is it's fun
[speaker001:] well that's neat which you in a great area for it
[speaker002:] yes we are there's lots of lots of nice places to go and I know some families have a real formal type thing where they send out the letters and um assignments and have parts on the programs and quilt drawings and stuff we we don't do anything that big you know
[speaker001:] uh I admire people do that but we're just not that well organized and you know everyone's heading different directions so it's very hard to get together
[speaker002:] yes yes that is in fact I in a in a magazine I'd read an article about different ways to plan a family family reunion and you know if you had a real big like you say a real big organization and a lot of a lot of planning went into it that would that would be great but we tend to stick to the call each other and you know that we plan on those two that I mentioned every year for sure but
[speaker001:] sure that's the important thing just the important thing is to do it
[speaker002:] yeah that's right
[speaker001:] and that's great
[speaker002:] that's right because you you do you forget the the cousins I have uh they grow up and change and you know you wouldn't even recognize them sometimes other than these these times that you get together
[speaker001:] oh you bet
[speaker002:] so do you have any with your extended family or is it mostly your your sisters and
[speaker001:] mostly my sisters and brothers right now but as far as cousins we we haven't done that like I said before it's God in just forever I don't know how we'd ever get all of our cousins together you know
[speaker002:] um-hum uh-huh yeah
[speaker001:] it's like it's like high school reunion high school and college reunions uh I didn't go I'm I just turned fifty years old recently and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] didn't go to many reunions until I hit my twentieth I believe and of course I haven't missed one since then because it's just so enjoyable
[speaker002:] oh oh yeah
[speaker001:] you get to see all your old friends and what's going on and it's just a it's a neat deal I look I look forward to them
[speaker002:] uh-huh boy I'll say yeah so do you when you have your when you got together with your sisters last year did was there a lot of catching up to do
[speaker001:] oh yes
[speaker002:] a lot of changes that had happened since the last time
[speaker001:] yeah kids kids getting older getting married and graduating high school and college and whatever
[speaker002:] um-hum oh
[speaker001:] just lots of things to catch up on and and we spent that time to do that
[speaker002:] uh-huh did you get take your kids with you or was it the adults
[speaker001:] no this was this was just for the big guys just for the parents
[speaker002:] oh how fun oh that's fun
[speaker001:] it was sort of neat though in fact we uh we had a little rule that we would we would not take the kids with us this time but all of our kids are a little older so
[speaker002:] oh uh-huh that that makes a big difference
[speaker001:] yes all of our kids are in a middle and high school and college so and married so
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh
[speaker001:] so we just all got together and it was sort of neat
[speaker002:] that is that is that's it's a fun thing to do and I think it's important that we keep doing that because everybody is so busy you lose you lose you lose touch and you lose ties
[speaker001:] you bet because my mother and dad both were there so it really paid off
[speaker002:] oh were they
[speaker001:] yeah it was neat and and and her four kids were there and their spouses so it worked out real well
[speaker002:] oh well great boy I'll say yes I my brothers are scattered all around too and that's you know
[speaker001:] are they
[speaker002:] yes they're they're all over the place