[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] Your family have reunions on a regular basis?
[speaker001:] Probably, once every five years.
[speaker002:] Once every five years?
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Uh, you have got a pretty big family.
[speaker001:] Yeah and that is the hardest part about getting the fam-, the stuff together and everyone is spread out all over Timbuktu.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah.
[speaker001:] And you?
[speaker002:] Yeah, we have a pretty big family, but most of us, well, uh, uh, I am originally from West Virginia.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Most of the family is right in the West Virginia, uh, uh, what they call Tri-State area, uh, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Most everybody is right in that area.
[speaker001:] That makes it a lot easier. A lot more convenient. That is why we only do it once every five or ten years.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Spec-, [LAUGHTER] because it is always that hard to get everyone together.
[speaker002:] Yeah. They put one together for our family about once every June. It was on my grandmother's birthday, but she is, she is gone now.
[speaker001:] Yeah, see that is kind of what happened with ours. That is why we have not had one in a long time.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Uh.
[speaker001:] So, so, to make one successful, I mean, I mean what do you all do.
[speaker002:] Oh,
[speaker001:] Do you all just start planning real far ahead of time?
[speaker002:] Pardon.
[speaker001:] Uh, do you all start planning real far ahead of time?
[speaker002:] Well, no. There is kind of a set pattern to it. There is, uh, so, uh, the day it happens is ninety-eight percent of the planning usually.
[speaker001:] Oh, really [louder].
[speaker002:] Yeah. Uh, we, uh, get together, at the, uh, the park, uh, the, uh, the park, and playground area of the Church I was raised in
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and, uh, everybody brings lots of food and some put up the volleyball net and sit around and tell stories and catch up and play volleyball all day and get really fat [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Eat a lot.
[speaker002:] Oh, gosh.
[speaker001:] It is a lot harder for us because we are like I said we are spread out
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and so we have to plan anywhere from six, well really probably a year ahead of time so that everyone, can uh, start their, uh, vacation time.
[speaker002:] Schedule vacation time and yeah. We usu-, uh, Sat, uh, Sunday afternoon
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] or, uh, sometimes it has been like on a Saturday afternoon. Usually, it is like Sunday afternoon and most people do not have more than you know a couple of hours drive at tops
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] to get there and back.
[speaker001:] Yeah, is that one of your, uh, I mean, uh,
[speaker002:] Well, where I am calling from is southern Mississippi. So, we have got, uh, uh, my wife and I have, uh, a bit longer ways to go than most.
[speaker001:] But, you also manage to make them.
[speaker002:] uh, actually, we, we have only made one of them since we got married about four years ago.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] One of the family reunions. But we are both in school so that makes it kind of tough.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] They usually, uh, they have been happening, uh, just after the summer semester starts.
[speaker001:] You can't really get away.
[speaker002:] Usually not. We managed to get to one. That was before I started school and she took that summer off. But, uh,
[speaker001:] Well, now that we have been talking about it, I, uh, I am kind of getting home sick now.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Because it has been over three years since I have been home
[speaker002:] Oh goodness.
[speaker001:] to see my grandparents. Well, my, my grandfather is the only one that is still around.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And see, my grandmother is the one that use to plan this stuff basically.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So, unless the aunts and uncles really get on the ball and put stuff together, it is kind of like. She was like the glue, so.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I understand. Where is home for you?
[speaker001:] Originally, uh, I, uh, was born in Missouri.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But, uh, you know, we have relatives scattered out all over Louisiana, Mississippi, uh, here in Texas
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] but it is harder for everyone to get in, get home.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well, maybe this year you can find a more central location.
[speaker001:] Well, but the majority of them are in, like, just like how you said in close, close quarters. So it is easier for us few stragglers to go home.
[speaker002:] Oh, okay. Then the majority of them are still in the Missouri area.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Okay. You know our family right now, uh, the most of it, there is only a few stragglers, uh, with any distance. There is one cousin out in Colorado, uh, uh, some cousins over in Phoenix, uh, I got a sister over in, in, uh, Washington State [barking]. Uh, the rest of them are within, you know, a couple hours drive.
[speaker001:] Well, uh, how do you all communicate? Like to plan it and every thing. Do you all just call each other up on the phone and say this is the weekend we are going to do it, or do you all like mail out stuff?
[speaker002:] That is pretty much it. Yeah. It is going to be such and such, uh, weekend and, uh, you all come.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] That is about it [LAUGHTER]. And you know this is the standard pattern. It, uh, everybody brings their favorite dish and, somebody brings the volleyball net, [NOISE] somebody brings a whole lot of ice for the watermelon and,
[speaker001:] Well, uh, uh, I guess probably the last one I went to I met so many people that I had not seen in probably ten, over ten years. It was like, don't you remember me. And I am like no [louder].
[speaker002:] Am I related to you?
[speaker001:] Yeah. I know.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I married your cousin's brother's uncle or something like that.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Do you, I mean, is that since, I mean do you have them every year?
[speaker002:] Uh, yeah, every year.
[speaker001:] .
[speaker002:] And, uh, still, you wind up meeting people you, uh, you never knew you were related to. Let alone
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And,
[speaker001:] Well, I think that is probably why our is probably so interesting is cause we don't have them that often
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah.
[speaker001:] and then when we do, and everyone finally does get together, it is like after the, you know,