Prairie View

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Miller Reunion--Part 1

Reunions are a wonderful thing, especially when everyone present is a first cousin or closer relative. And especially when the drama in the family is mostly of the non-pathological kind, and people like each other. Also when people share a common faith and many common memories, with enough diversity to keep the discussions lively and stimulating. Conversations liberally sprinkled with funny anecdotes, appropriate puns, and novel vocabulary for ordinary subjects–even corny humor–all these are so delightful.

The first several days of the 4th of July weekend our family attended a reunion of the descendants of Levi D. and Clara Miller, my grandparents on my father’s side. The reunion of the next few days piggy-backed on the first one was for my parents’ descendants, planned as a celebration of their 60th wedding anniversary, which is actually on August 12. For the sake of efficiency, we sometimes refer to these groups as the Tribe of Levi and the House of David, or the LDM family and DLM family. The Tribe of Levi gathered at a church fellowship hall with an adjacent gym (and cemetery). The first figured larger in the activities than the second. The House of David met at Oasis, a rural and local family retreat center four miles west of Abbyville, where Shane and Dorcas live. Harve Schmucker’s family used to live there.

All of the 12 LDM family siblings are still living. However Daniel could not be present. He lives in Virginia and has dementia, which now makes traveling unmanageable. He is one of the younger family members. One uncle by marriage died 30 years ago, and one aunt by marriage died within the past year. In this extended family, several came from Manitoba, Canada and many states--from California to North Carolina. Others who were missing are currently living elsewhere in Canada, England, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Costa Rica, as well as in many states other than Kansas.

In the DLM family, only my nephew Zachary was missing. He is finishing up a one-year stint in Europe as an MCC trainee–or whatever the current term is. He worked as a volunteer. Joel and Shane are the only two married grandchildren in the DLM family, so this was the reunion where everyone was first cousin or closer. People traveled from NC, PA, OH, and VA for this reunion.

At both reunions, a very prominent unscheduled feature was torrential rain. At our home rain gauge, we had 4 ½ inches during this time. This affected the planned activities far more at the DLM reunion than the LDM one, because there was no gym at the family retreat center. The younger family members had planned to sleep in tents and play plenty of volleyball. Hiking and birding and perhaps fishing and swimming were on deck. Picnics and barbecues and outdoor campfire sessions and fireworks displays were scheduled. But instead everyone slept inside, with some on couches and others in sleeping bags on enclosed porches. One chicken dinner was prepared on the outdoor grill, and the picnic tables were dry enough to use for one meal, but for the most part we cooked and ate inside or on the long porch. We played indoor games or did what Millers do very readily--talk. I didn’t hear any complaining about the change in plans, but maybe that was because I mostly hung out with staid middle-aged types. A homemade fireworks session substituted for the public displays that were canceled because of the rain.

One birding trip to Quivira happened at 6:00 AM, with Uncle Bill at the helm, and probably about six nephews in tow. The pouring rain did not hamper waterfowl activity, but did hinder observation opportunities because the windows on the vehicles could not be opened and the rain on the window surface distorted the images. But they did see some of the terns that are nesting on this inland salt water marsh, and a number of other birds.

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