1. Every reunion gets progressively louder and louder

It starts to simple hellos to one another and hugs with "how are you?" But as the day goes on, everyone gets progressively louder and louder in conversations. There's always someone laughing, a dad giving really bad "dad jokes," and aunts gossiping about family drama over wine. You can help but smile in noticing the enjoyment people find within one another, especially when it's family.

2. Names get easily mixed up

I come from a VERY Italian family, so you can imagine how many Nikki's, Tina's, Tony's, Joe's, Frank's, Mike's, and etc there are in my family. So when family members are telling a story, sometimes it can be hard to follow if there are names that six other relatives have.

Names tend to mesh into one another unless you are like me by the name, Kathleen. Which isn't as popular but I like it.

3. No one leaves with an empty stomach

There are various reasons this will NEVER happen going to a big, Italian family reunion.

(1) Someone will take a personal offense if you aren't touching their homemade lasagna, so you best believe you will get a side of it whether you like it or not.

(2) It ranks practically as a mortal sin if you eat too little or not enough.

You'll most likely get thrown questions such as, "Did you have enough to eat?" "Are you still hungry?!" "Honey, grab seconds and thirds there is PLENTY where that came from." "Did you enjoy what you got? Can I grab you some more?" "You're full? Bullshit, grab more." "You'll like it!!!! Shut up and eat it." "You're pescatarian? But what about meatballs? Oh, honey, it's okay eat a little I won't tell."

Well, the last one is more directed towards me, but you get it.

4. You never truly know the whole family tree of your side

My grandparents come from huge families, so you can imagine the number of babies that came from that. To this day, I have had to have my mom give me a breakdown of "who is whose kid," "what kids they had," and "who is whose grand-kid." Still haven't pieced it together quite yet.

5. There's always a relative that is little too sarcastic

You know who I am talking about. There's always that one aunt or uncle that is ultra-sarcastic, but in the best ways possible. I was (and still am) one of the shyer kids in the family so I can be an easy target to pick on to get me talking. Like when I'm not even talking, I'll get told to shut up or stop being loud, this always gives me a smile and I can't stop laughing. It's even better when they are giving other relatives hell, it adds a little something to conversations.