My daughter and I were talking about the things we planned for the summer, and we would like to get a family reunion together for both our families – The Prices and The Sims.
I have not been to a family reunion in so many years I can’t even remember when. I am realizing as I grow older and so many of my family has already gone Home that I need and really want to see everybody one more time.
I readily remember the first Sims reunion I went to with my husband, then a boyfriend, over in the Delta as that is where most of his family originated. I was so young, nervous, and excited to meet his kinfolks. Of course, then I am seventeen years old and in excellent young shape. Now a reunion is completely different as I have aged and changed from the excellent young shape to an older version with a much different shape. And I know these people. They hold nothing back as they critique you and your presence.
The last Price Family reunion I attended was several years ago and even then, when I was somewhat still youthful, I was bombarded with several things said that even staggered me and I don’t get offended easily. One of my aunts ask me, “Now who is your Daddy?” I told her and she replied with, “I see the favor, but you sure are bigger than he was. I guess you enjoy owning that grocery store, I see you like to eat.” Then one of my cousins, the same age as me, asked me if I was in the sun much because of the wrinkles.
Some of the older ones were, like me now, nearly deaf and I had to raise my voice, to my outside voice, just to speak to them. They all meant well and were happy to see us, but they were just at the right age, again as I am now, to say exactly what was on their minds.
I was raised a Southern girl, always polite, never offensive, never hurt feelings and I continue to live this way, but I sure wanted to say what was on my mind at that get-to-gather. I wanted to tell Great Aunt Nellie she needed a hat as she was going bald, or Uncle So and So his teeth might fall out every time he talked, or my cousin with the beautiful red hair she could use an ear pinning. Would I ever do that, no. I really love my kin and I treasure the times I have fellowshipped with them. I just wish they would be a little more kindhearted and tell me that I have added “character lines”, and that I have become “softer and fluffier.”
There is one thing I can do the next time we all gather to visit that would help to ease the boldness, I’ll take my hearing aids out and I can’t hear the sweet critiques of my loveable relatives.
I love French Fries but not the calories that come with them, so I have learned to make these potatoes and they are delicious with a burger.
Seasoning- ½ cup of Parmesan cheese, 1 t. season salt and ½ t. black pepper, 1 t. cumin, 2 t. paprika, few red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon Olive oil. Cut potatoes into four wedges and put all into a big bowl and cover the potatoes with seasoning and oil. Bake on a cookie sheet at 400* for 30 minutes.
