But With a Whimper
Yesterday we went to the family reunion on my dad's side. This year it was so small that we didn't even have the business meeting afterward, or the door prize drawings that we used to have. Other than two grandchildren one of the older cousins was babysitting, my brothers and I were probably the youngest people in attendance (and even my brothers are now both in their early 50's).
We were talking about how much the reunion has shrunk since its glory days in the 70's and 80's, when I was growing up. Back then, it took four picnic tables to hold all the food, with desserts alone occupying an entire table. We also used a couple more rows of four tables for sitting and eating. And we always used tables under the trees because both the pavilions were full of other families having their reunions.
And in those days there were lots of young people there -- adults in their 20's and 30's, and lots of little kids. I remember playing with cousins of various degrees both before and after the meal. Sometimes we'd get into mischief, and we were always going out onto the huge weeping willow that leaned out over the lake, although we really weren't supposed to.
Even a decade ago, when we started going to the family reunion again after a number of years of spending Labor Day weekend with my husband's family, I noticed how much smaller it was than I'd remembered even from the late 90's -- but it wasn't nearly this small. Now I'm starting to wonder how much longer it'll even keep going, if the family members in their 20's and 30's aren't attending and carrying the tradition forward into the new generation.
At the same time, I also note how much the park itself has diminished since my childhood visits. The little midway with its carousel and tiny roller coaster is long gone, and I'm not even sure where it used to be, or if that land may have eroded away and become part of the lake in the meantime. The building near the main pavilion, which used to have paddle-boats for rent, an arcade of pinball and video games to play, and a miniature golf course, is now empty. The foundations of the miniature golf course is still there, but the various little castles and whatnot are gone, leaving only a sad memory.
However, it was already in decline even when I was growing up. I can just remember when there was a miniature train that ran on a track opposite the circle drive from the midway. I did ride it a few times, at first in someone's lap, and later on my own, but by the time I was in school it had already vanished and the track was torn up. And my mother could remember a time when there was a public beach -- and the showerhouse for it lingered well into my youth, closed and in increasing disrepair.
On the other hand, the playground has expanded from a couple of swingsets to a wide variety of brightly-colored climbing castles and even some accessible rides for children with physical disabilities. So perhaps it's not all lost -- but I do long for those days when the family reunion was a huge gathering of relations close and distant, and really hope the tradition doesn't end altogether.
We were talking about how much the reunion has shrunk since its glory days in the 70's and 80's, when I was growing up. Back then, it took four picnic tables to hold all the food, with desserts alone occupying an entire table. We also used a couple more rows of four tables for sitting and eating. And we always used tables under the trees because both the pavilions were full of other families having their reunions.
And in those days there were lots of young people there -- adults in their 20's and 30's, and lots of little kids. I remember playing with cousins of various degrees both before and after the meal. Sometimes we'd get into mischief, and we were always going out onto the huge weeping willow that leaned out over the lake, although we really weren't supposed to.
Even a decade ago, when we started going to the family reunion again after a number of years of spending Labor Day weekend with my husband's family, I noticed how much smaller it was than I'd remembered even from the late 90's -- but it wasn't nearly this small. Now I'm starting to wonder how much longer it'll even keep going, if the family members in their 20's and 30's aren't attending and carrying the tradition forward into the new generation.
At the same time, I also note how much the park itself has diminished since my childhood visits. The little midway with its carousel and tiny roller coaster is long gone, and I'm not even sure where it used to be, or if that land may have eroded away and become part of the lake in the meantime. The building near the main pavilion, which used to have paddle-boats for rent, an arcade of pinball and video games to play, and a miniature golf course, is now empty. The foundations of the miniature golf course is still there, but the various little castles and whatnot are gone, leaving only a sad memory.
However, it was already in decline even when I was growing up. I can just remember when there was a miniature train that ran on a track opposite the circle drive from the midway. I did ride it a few times, at first in someone's lap, and later on my own, but by the time I was in school it had already vanished and the track was torn up. And my mother could remember a time when there was a public beach -- and the showerhouse for it lingered well into my youth, closed and in increasing disrepair.
On the other hand, the playground has expanded from a couple of swingsets to a wide variety of brightly-colored climbing castles and even some accessible rides for children with physical disabilities. So perhaps it's not all lost -- but I do long for those days when the family reunion was a huge gathering of relations close and distant, and really hope the tradition doesn't end altogether.