Family Reunion
By
the time you read this, you will know that I have been gone for a few days to
visit family in Ohio; more precisely, to attend a Meister Reunion in Mansfield
with Diane and my sister and brother-in-law.
It’s been about ten years since we attended one of these annual
affairs. In the interval, my oldest
uncle and an aunt have passed away. My
grandparents had 11 children, Al, Liz, Jacob, Ruth, Viola, Walt, Barb, Dick,
Don, Jim and Bobby (not in that order though).
Those folks produced 31 of us cousins.
Only Barb and Jim survive as aunt and uncle (plus a couple of spouses). I am excited about seeing my cousins,
especially the group of boys who were born in a two-year span; seven of
us. There are pictures of us from the
1950’s at Grandma’s for Christmas and on the swing set in someone’s
backyard. I suspect we were a handful
whenever we were together. One of my
favorite cousins from “the group” died before he had chance to live a full
life. He was a baker who worked for
Dunkin Donuts. He was removing a tray
from one of the racks when he apparently lost his balance and fell through a
plate glass window. Two others of the
cousins have passed as well. I have lost
track of how many children the cousins have brought into the world, but it’s a
bunch. Hopefully Diane and will get the
information we need to complete a genealogy for my cousins that traces our
ancestors back to Switzerland and Yugoslavia/Germany.
Families
are interesting: sometimes loving and caring, sometimes not so much; sometimes
close knit and sometimes not so much. In
any case the members are still family and connected in ways that are not always
clear. Reunions are a way of reminding
us of our connections and mutual heritage.
Of
course, while we are there, we will visit the German meat market, the German
bakery and some friends that I haven’t seen for a very long time. I can smell the smoked garlic sausage already
and taste the poppy seed strudel. Most
of the German places my father used to take me on our Saturday morning grocery
shopping trips are no longer there.
Modern supermarkets have become the norm, but a few survive and try to
support them when I can. I will buy some
Jones potato chips while I’m there as well.
They are a local company that has purchased some other chip makers, but
the originals are the best…at least that’s what my memory tells me!
Have a great week! See you
Sunday!
Until then – peace.
Posted on Wed, July 15, 2015
by Doug Meister