Family Ties

Crazy Aunt Patti has a point... we talk a lot about food. I had this conversation with my mom not so long ago. When your family and friends are distanced across America, Family is Celebration and celebration is food. I imagine that families with foreign bank accounts like to reminisce about their extended relatives whist having a jolly good game of Polo or sloshing about the Mediterranean on "Chauncey" their 160-foot yacht. My point being, that when you have the means and the abilities to do such outings, then you do such things.

But when your family gathers, what do they do?
I recently spent a too-short-of-time visit with my new family-by-marriage over the 4th of July holiday this year. The Lummus(es) (and Brands) are great. I got lucky finding someone as perfect as Lilah, but God must have really been in a generous mood to give me Charlie and Melinda, Charity and Lori, not to mention the new extended family (in the feminine alphabetical order, where applicable): Aunt Charlene & Bill, Aunt Cynthia & Tom, Aunt Debbie & Tim, Aunt Katherine, Aunt Liz and Chris, Aunt Mary Jean (haven’t met her husband yet), Aunt Sandy & Steve, and Uncle Billy (haven’t met his wife), most of whom were at the family reunion barbeque and/or at our wedding.

Honestly, what do you do with 30 some-odd people in one place? Feed ‘em or give them Wrestle-mania tickets, I say.

The Troxel family hasn’t had a reunion since we lived in Missouri, though a couple of Funerals have brought us together at various times. Dennis (that’s Dad), Marty (that’s Mom), Aunt Linda and her son Steve and Daughter Sheryl, are about all that’s left. Bob and Martha, Grandparents on my dad’s side, passed several years ago now and they’re both greatly missed not only for their familial presence, but also for the ability to gather the family into a central location for the holidays.

The Brickers, my mother-sided family, has even fewer left: the ever-popular Crazy Aunt Patti and a distanced cousin Manly. Cousin Jeremy died in his twentys. Grandpa Herb died while I was in the army. My grandmother died when childhood memory is still fuzzy and included oxygen tanks and a house in Florida with an Avocado tree in the back yard and lizards on the fence. I think there are Bricker ties left in various East coast states, but I haven’t met the majority (read “any”) of them and wouldn’t recognize them in passing. However, what we lack in volume we make up in quality: Aunt Patti is the best and I’ll challenge any man to step forward who says otherwise. Harrumph.

Pretty soon there will be new additions to the Bricker/Brand/Lummus/Troxel family tree branches, and if I have my way plenty of them. (Okay, you caught me, Brand should have come before Bricker, but how cool does “Bricker-Brand” sound, huh?!?) Even Charity has a steady Beau now; Lori is married and of course Lilah and I want a brood! (yes mom(s), we’ll be getting started soon).

Maybe one of these days we’ll all gather together in one Mega Smack-down Wrestle Mania Style reunion. Maybe we’ll gather around a big steaming plate of tofu and Broccoli… or maybe not.

To all our family: We don’t see you enough, We don’t call you enough, and We don’t write you enough! But I’ll guarantee you that we miss and love you enough!
:jnl