"Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind." -Lilo & Stitch

When my friends talk about family reunions, it seems as if they’re a catching up from years and years of lost communication. When I’m asked about my family reunions, I respond with, oh we don’t really have family reunions. We see each other often for it to not even be a family reunion, but more of a gathering where we just eat, talk, laugh, and talk about what’s been happening in the week that we didn’t see each other.

It really is a blessing to have a family this big. There’s so many more pros than cons for it to be such a problem. When I need to be picked up from the airport after a flight from Colorado, it’s so simple because if I can’t be picked up by my parents, they’ll call one of my aunts or uncles. If none of them can pick me up, they’ll call one of my cousins. And the rotation just goes on and on for everyone else. But it really is a blessing for me to be in this family. I wouldn’t ever trade it for the world.

My parents were born and raised in Vietnam. My Mom has eight siblings and my Dad has 10. Seems a lot, right? Well, on my Mom’s side there are more than 20 cousins, and some of those cousins have kids. My Dad has 10 siblings; I don’t see them often. My family on his side is spread apart. I have cousins located in Australia, parts of America, but most of them are in Vietnam. I don’t have much knowledge of most of those cousins, but for the cousins who do live in America and Australia, our relationship is quite close.

But my Mom’s side is a whole different story. Most of those siblings are in California where we live only a few miles apart from each other. I’ve even walked from my house to one of the aunt’s house because we just wanted to go on a walk, so walking to her house was where we went. My other aunt usually has gatherings and when she does, most of the cousins will walk together to go on a boba run for everyone else. We’re that close to each other.

And the best part about having such a big family is that we all have someone close to us. We have cousins who already have kids to cousins who are still in elementary school. The age may seem like a huge gap, but because we’ve been with each other from all of the great achievements we all accomplished, we’re close enough to call each other sisters and brothers.

Now we also have family members who live either out of town, or they live in a different state or country. But even with that barrier of not being able to see each other, we still have ways to communicate. With modern technology being everywhere, there’s so many different ways we communicate with each other. There’s texting, there’s the video calling, etc. And of course, the family members who live a bit further will find their ways to come back.

Just because we live in different areas doesn’t mean we won’t ever see each other anymore. We all have a different life, but even with living differently won’t stop us from anything. We check up on each other time to time, we’ll call each other to ask stuff, and when we do see each other over the camera, everyone of course will go around with the phone and pass the phone around. I mean, at least we all should say hi at least.

It’s funny when we have friends come over. I remember having a friend over for one of the celebrations, and when they first came into the house, the first thing I hear is, “Woah, there’s a lot of people at this house.” There really is a lot of people in just one building, and when I introduce them to the family, it takes a while for them to remember who’s who. I don’t really bother anymore with trying to prep my friend for the family because we don’t have a family tree that really explains who’s who and who’s kid is who and who’s sibling is who.

It really is funny getting them to try to remember who goes with who. With this family, there really is no 1+1 when it comes to remembering. It takes a while for you to remember what face goes with what name. But after a plenty of visits of the celebration, they get the hang of it and 1+1 is finally figured out.

Sitting down with each other, eating food together, laughing at the small things, reminiscing on the old memories; it really is the greatest small moments that turn into long talks at night. And I have to admit it, by the end of the day when it’s time to leave; I feel this empty feeling that comes upon me. We talk and we laugh, and because we did it for such a long time, once everyone leave, it’s like something you love is being taken from you. And that empty feeling just settles in your stomach and you kind of feel a bit sad.

Now, I’m in college and the sad part is that I learned about this empty stomach feeling after graduating to high school. I’ve been to many of our gatherings, but even those never gave me the empty stomach feeling. But now that I’m states away all the time, I realized that time goes by quickly, and that I should always cherish them forever.

All in all, don’t take your family for granted no matter what happens. Take the time to call your brother, sister, cousin, parents, check up on them and say hi. Even a call can make a difference and show that you do still remember them because later, you don’t know what can happen in the future. So for my family members who are reading this right now, hey, let’s have some brunch or lunch or dinner the next time you’re free. And for those who are away, let’s schedule a time to just video call each other. I hope you’re doing well, and thanks for being there for me.