Why I keep going back

By Brent Maze (Contact) | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Summertime is a time for vacations and everyone’s favorites, family reunions. It seems like we have all kinds of family reunions during the summer.

For me, it starts the week before Memorial Day when my dad’s side of the family has the first reunion of the season. This one’s probably one of the more unusual because it’s called “decoration day,” a day that’s set aside to decorate the graves of family members. The decoration days are not set by the families but by the cemeteries. And those families who have relatives in those cemeteries usually get together and put flowers on grave.

The next weekend is, of course, Memorial Day. Our crew usually gets together to grill out at some point over the weekend, but it’s usually not Memorial Day because I’m working that day.

Then, the next month is when we have a big family reunion on my mom’s side of the family. For the last 30 years or so, they have gotten together in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., for the annual reunion. It’s been a pretty big deal every year, so much so that the city of Pigeon Forge honored our family when we had our 25th reunion there.

This year, we had about 140 family members there out of about 500+ total in that part of the family. At that reunion, I even learned that our family could be related to Pocahontas, but it hasn’t been completely verified.

Then, we have the Fourth of July when we once again get together and grill out again. This was always my favorite because we usually put some corn on the cob on the grill, which is a wonderful delicacy. Later on, we might shoot some fireworks and then head to Birmingham to watch some of the big fireworks.

The summer would then be rounded out with Labor Day, another day our family would spend around the grill.

When you go to a family reunion, there are always a few things that you can expect.

1. Food. There can’t be a family reunion without food and lots of it. If you’re going to have about 50 people there, expect to have enough to feed 100. Everyone usually brings a dish and most of the time, they’re usually going to be good.

2. Crazy relatives (but this is usually only at the bigger ones). You know them. You might not like them, but they always add life to the reunion.

3. Disorganization. It’s nothing to be ashamed about. There’s always going to be times where you just sit around waiting on stuff to happen, but that just gives you more time to converse with your family.

4. A time to remember. This is when you look back and see who isn’t with us this year. It’s also a time to think about those who were spared for another year and be grateful because they are still around.

It’s because of these reasons and more that I still enjoy going back to visit with the family as often as I can.

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Brent Maze is the managing editor of The Dadeville Record.