The Reunion 2012
Abarquez family. Taken during the 2012 reunion, Dec. 29.
What I love about reunions are the never ending introductions and how-do-you-dos with all the relatives you meet.
You kinda think it will stop after an hour or so, but it doesn't. You utter the same "I'm ---, daughter of ---, your dad's cousin!" or "How is your son? Your daughter? I heard this or that" or just the plain "Hello!" and a big hug and kiss on the cheek.
Both my parents come from big (and I mean REALLY big) families, I never really keep track of everyone or even see them at least once a year. I'm more familiar with my first cousins on my mom's side since they live fairly closer to our home and I grew up spending Sundays with them or having to take care of them or tutor them (because I'm the eldest) on weekdays or weekends. But cousins from dad's side? I know everyone but only keep tabs on a few.
So just imagine my amazement at how many people I actually share blood with when I attended a reunion of the Abarquezes--my paternal grandma's family! I kinda prepped myself to smile and greet everyone (I even googled a lot of them to memorize their names and faces! GASP) but I didn't really expect to see A LOOOT of people.
Well, you get by the enthusiasm of everyone to meet and greet everyone and see how well-behaved some of the kids are or how scared of them of their parents when the old people ask them for favors. Ha!
I pretty much enjoyed the whole night of eating and playing games and sharing stories and taking pictures and singing and drinking! I actually expected some of my aunts and uncles to bring a Mahjong table since most of their birthday parties I've been to involve that (wink).
Some of the grandparents though locked themselves up in the rooms together with the babies and slept through most of the party but the kids (THE CUTE KIDS) enjoyed themselves a lot frolicking, running around the pool and almost-killing each other from games they invented themselves while swimming.
Well, people were grouped by ages (YES, no surprise there) and did whatever--sang, drank, gossiped, laughed--as each family bade farewell after the clock struck midnight.
My family left the party at around 3 in the morning, my head was actually reeling from only a bottle of beer and a couple of Emparador shots, and I slept through the ride home.
Oh, let's not forget all the unsolicited advise one gets from parties--all the wisdom of the old people which I welcome and always take note of, because 1. I respect them a lot and 2. they're older than I am and definitely know a lot how the world works. Yes, most of the comments I got were about how very uneventful my lovelife is, but hey, there are worse things than having no arm candy at parties, right? Haha.
I hope we can do this annually, despite all the get-togethers throughout the year, because it's not every year I get to see ALL of them at the same time and place.
I'm obviously one happy kid after a slightly tiring night :)