Ken’s e-Pistle

July 12, 2023

I hope that you had a wonderful Fourth of July!  We had an exciting one with fourteen folk, five dogs and a chihuahua in residence.  By the time they descended we had replaced all of the food lost in the recent power failure and cleaned the pool of storm debris.  Miss Vicki was in charge of sleeping arrangements and I am more than convinced that a few of the younger folk had to hang from the ceiling like bats.

We haven’t really had a sho’nuff family reunion in quite a few years.  They used to be large affairs with folk coming from several states, sleeping on the floors and consuming large amounts of scarcely dietetic food.  Refrigeration was at a premium, so food was simply covered with a sheet on the table between meals, doubtless causing the respective Health Departments to have running fits had they but known.

Cousins would become reacquainted, aunts and uncles would sit in the shade, grandparents were afforded seats of honor in the living room, bathed in air conditioning.  An unofficial but nevertheless important competition was held as to who arrived from the furthest point, who made the best banana pudding, who won the horseshoe competition, and who could spin the most believable lie. (I confess that I still hold that title!) Young children slept contentedly on folded quilts, some of them family heirlooms.  And, of course, adolescent first cousins of opposite genders were warned against romantic trysts.

Yes, it was a different day.  Perhaps even, in many respects, a better one.  But it is my turn to be the host/grandparent now and I am enjoying the air conditioning.  That and the fact that the banana pudding is served to me in a ceramic bowl with a heaping helping of  familial love.

I bid you peace!