Are Your Family Reunions Crazy?

     Family reunions can be as crazy as this octopus I met at an aquarium. His arms flung this way and that while his body appeared to search for which way he was going.
     Our family reunions are like that, where the age range is from newborn to ninety-five. It’s like herding an octopus to coordinate any activity because family members are flying in all directions around the house.
     A Voice of Authority announces, “In ten minutes we’ll leave for a hike.” A scurry erupts to find socks, shoes, coats, mittens. Somehow it happens, and the octopus - our family - tumbles out the door.
     Along the hike, octopus arms range wide and far. Voices of Authority alert them: “watch out,” “don’t go there,” “stay put.” A miracle: no one is lost, and we make it back home, everyone breathless and descending upon the kitchen to refuel.
     Then octopus arms spread throughout the house again until the dinner bell rings. Everyone converges around the tables for a feast that reminds me of the banquet scene of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys in the movie Hook. Joy unabated.
     That’s our family. We’re gathered again this Thanksgiving, as your family may be, for a wonderful, messy, celebration held together by the glue of bloodline and marriage and love. It’ll be chaos, laughs, maybe some tears, sticky floors, dirty dishes, exhaustion, and bodies flying every which way as this thing called family comes together.
​     May your celebration be as thanks-laden as ours.