Reunion

Just returned from the Rappold Family Reunion. It was really nice to have all the families together for the first time since we've all (well, most) had kids. Watching E and Joc show their cousins their playroom made me wish we could be a little closer so we could get together more often. Jam adores baseball and desperately wanted J or D to play with him but they are just too young still to know what to do. And Jam's quite good with the bat! He looks like a little pro.
It was the first time many of us got to meet our cousins' children and it was really neat to get the kids together to see the similarities. Billy Rappold's little boy Nicholas looks just like him and has an affinity for bugs. As Billy was taking him out to the car to go home, Nicholas was talking about the various bugs we were likely to see at night, why they come out at night and what they might do to us (bite us and leave pimples on our faces).
Joc reminds me so much of D with her deep brown eyes with the sloping lids, contemplative demeanor, quietly observing the action around her. E is all girly personality - already seeming like a girl I wanted to hang out with in high school - smart, pretty, and confident but still a little girl. M and S - so grown up. M is driving now and in her junior year of high school, still dancing, getting more beautiful by the day. Everyone agrees, she looks like Memmie more and more every year.
Bill and Pauline were there with Amanda, Paul and Elizabeth and their girls Madeleine and Mikayla.
Aunt Nancy and Uncle Matt were there, also and it was the first time all the children of Henry and Betty Rappold were together in some 8 years. I only met Henry once and Betty twice but as I reflect on the evening I think they would have been really proud to see their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren together today. All these different lives from all over the country came together to honor them and to celebrate family. It was really a lovely thing to be a part of. Memmie would be so incredibly proud of her grandchildren and even though she is no longer with us, her spirit lives in the souls of her children and grandchildren. I feel really lucky to have married into this family.