Ah yes, the unavoidable family gathering that takes place more often than you would like sometimes. It’s not that you don’t love your family, because you totally do, but sometimes all 60 some family members in one place can get a little overwhelming because let’s face it, no place should hold all 60 some members of your crazy family. So, just in case you’re attending a family reunion soon, here’s some things you should probably prepare for.
1. You think you meet new people
Chances are, you are going to meet some people that you think are new faces but they actually aren’t. Chances are you’ve met them several times and you still literally have no frickin clue what their name is. Chances are they’ll probably start the conversation with ‘Do you remember me? I haven’t seen you since you were this big wow you’re really growing!’ or ‘I used to change your diapers.’ While this isn't totally harmful, you can’t help but think 1. If I was ‘this big’ when I last saw you I probably won’t remember who you are and 2. Um ew. I really don’t want to think of you changing my diapers.
And then you probably will actually meet some new people. Someone who married your third cousin twice removed or the new baby cousin that belongs to your mom’s aunt’s niece. They’re extremely nice and you almost feel sorry for the craziness they’ve now involved themselves in.
2. Screaming children
It’s just going to happen and there is no way to avoid it. For no reason at all, there is bound to be a child screaming bloody murder. When it finally stops 15 minutes later, don’t get too comfortable because another kid will start screaming in an hour. And it’s not always just crying kids, for some reason kids just like to scream. They scream when they talk, play and somehow manage to do it while eating too.
3. Someone will fight about politics
Whether it stemmed from a harmful conversation or someone purposely tried to start a fight, there’s no doubt you’ll hear family members arguing about why Obama has ruined our nation or that we should have deployed more troops in the Middle East. Someone will get offended and someone will for sure leave the room in a hurry. And you’ll just be standing there like ‘what in the world just happened.’
4. Food starts out great
But then it get’s gross really fast. There’s something about food that has been sitting out for three hours that is really unappetizing. Not to mention someone brought some sort of macaroni surprise that really should have been made without the “surprise.” Just make sure to eat right when the event starts.
5. Someone becomes the star of the show
When mostly everyone has left, there is always one family member that decides it’s a good idea to drink all the leftover adult beverages and sing karaoke. Well, you really can’t even consider it karaoke because there’s no music and they’re basically just making up the words to the beat of a Jimmy Buffet song. All the kids sit there and laugh for awhile because how often do we get to see something like this? But soon it just gets really weird and embarrassing and you hope it ends as quickly as it started.
6. Every single cousin has a sleepover
How does this happen? How do kids somehow convince all the adults that it would be a good idea to have eight cousins have a sleepover. I’ll make this short- it is not a good idea because you will be kept up all night by constant giggling.
7. You realize your family basically rocks
Okay, so yeah, your family is really freaking weird (like an insane amount of weird) but you wouldn’t trade them for the world. I mean, who else would put up with your weird phases or deals with your crankiness and non stop chattiness? Let’s face it, weird is a good when it applies to family.
