I just returned from our first full family reunion.  Since our parents passing several years ago, we had talked about getting us all back together.  But, like so many things in life it kept moving away from us.  That is until we set our foot, feet down and made plans.  Suddenly it was off the talking list and and we were all busy planning our get together in Lake Tahoe.  Thanks to the tenacity of our displaced California now New York niece, the details began to come together and our reunion became a reality.  Thirty-eight members of our family came together for four beautiful days in the mountains of California.  Among the thirty-eight were eleven grandchildren, some who had never met each other, yet by the end of our four day stay, had become very much acquainted and even fast friends.  The children’s ages ranged on up to 13 with the youngest in attendance barely 3 months old.  For several, the pictures will have to serve as their memories.

Now bringing this many people together and dropping them all in close vicinity to each other sounds risky, but in credit to the closeness of the five families, there were no wars, no battles.  Instead, we connected and reconnected in a way that would have made our parents proud.  Each day we shared a meal at one of the four condos, created, cooked and served up by the host family of that day.  The stories flowed freely and the laughter lasted long into the evenings.  In so many ways, we had not missed a beat.

This is what family is.  This is what family does.  I am so proud to be a member of this family and in awe as I look up at the family tree and the many branches it now bears and the new branches that continue to sprout.  Within the next year there will be at least two more added to the tree.  My hope is that we will all come together again and these new members will be introduced to their relatives.

And so I challenge us to meet again a year from now and tell the stories again, celebrate our lives and our accomplishments, revel in our heritage and remind each other that family matters.  It is said that you can choose your friends but not your family.  I for one am glad that this family chose me. I can say that I am proud to be a Wundrow.  Thank you mom and dad for the legacy of the family you founded.  I hope….no I know that you are proud of us.