Being in Bossier City, Louisiana, most people I know have just about all of their family within 100 miles of them and have family reunions at least once a year. My family, on the other hand, does not. The closest family member to us lives in Chicago, and we have yet to have a family reunion for either side of my family, until now. My mom has nine other siblings, and at this point each have had kids and some of those kids now have kids of their own. On top of that, most of them still live in Montana, with a few scattered here and there. I think you can guess why we don't have family reunions very often. This year was different, and let me tell you, I learned a few things just from this one.
1. Find your balance.
The total count of everyone coming to Glacier National Park for the reunion came to about 50 in all. This included aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great uncles and aunts, second cousins, and so on. With this many people, you need to find your balance between socializing and having some time for yourself. If you stick around and socialize too often, you'll end up leaving annoyed and not wanting to see anybody for a while. If you have too much time to yourself, you've completely defeated the purpose of a family reunion and will leave without getting to know any of your family you haven't seen in a while.
2. Let the parents be parents.
The little kids that are around will most likely run around, be loud, and be little farts about trying to do anything. It's one thing to have to the kids say "please" and "thank you" and keep them out of danger, but it is another thing to be dictating their every move. You will most likely disagree with the way a couple people handle their children, but ultimately, they are the ones that tell the kids what they can and can't do. You just have to learn to sit back and thank heavens you don't have any kids that you are responsible for.
3. Put away the technology.
It is so tempting to break out your phone when you're bored to play some games or text your friends about what's going on, but in the end, it's best to put it away. Especially if you are in a completely different area than where you live. Get out and explore where you're at. Try to ask someone for a ride around town or get someone to go walk around wherever you're at. If there's no where to go, find someone to talk to that you haven't seen in years. I can't tell you the plethora of information I have recently learned about some of my family. I learned things I never knew about some people and was also invited to visit some other family in Oregon and Hawaii next summer. If I was texting or playing games on my phone, none of that would have never happened.
4. Lastly, do everything that was planned.
Whoever planned the reunion most likely put a lot of thought into the activities to do while your family is there so that everyone has a good time. Try to do everything you possibly can because you never know what kind of memories you'll make out there. If everyone is going hiking and you've never hiked a day in your life, try it out. Living below sea level, we don't have much to hike, so coming to Montana to do so was a crazy experience. It was hard in some places, and I almost broke my wrist doing it, but it was a complete blast and I am so glad I went despite never having done it before.
Family reunions are the time to get connected again with family, and if you are like me, you won't get many of them to do so. Enjoy every little thing that is going on and really get to know the family that is surrounding you. Do all these things, plus some, and I can assure you that you will thoroughly enjoy your time at your next family reunion.
