My Thoughts

Here is the last and final chapter in the reunion trip saga…we get to the Oak Grove Inn and my cousin and I go to check in. My cousin’s room costs $150 for the two nights we were staying. She had already sent in a $100 for a deposit on the room since she was paying cash, so you would think that all she would owe is $50, here is where the “fuzzy math” comes into play. When the front desk folks finished figuring out here bill she owed an additional $150, which would make the room, cost $300 I was half listening until the lady said that. Well my cousin was like “Hell nah, something aint right with that” so one of the ladies pulls out this calculator and she does some figuring and still comes up with this extra $150… So I step in and asked would it make things easier if I just put the room on my credit card and my cousin give me the money since even with a computer they couldn’t get the room price figured out. The front desk folks and my cousin agreed. So we check in and head to the park.
At the reunion, I swear I have never seen so many kids in my life, I think all my cousins have at least 3. I also have never seen so many women who chewed tabacco..eewww, but hey you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.
All in all we had a great time despite the “hiccups” I didn’t think was going to enjoy myself but I did specially day 2 of the reunion when the preachers of the family started their sermons and one of them was there with his girlfriend and not his wife, yeah we didn’t listen to him to much. Then for the talent show somebody got up to tell the family about how his daughter got a 5.5 GPA and $50,000 scholarship, my mom leans over to me and says “I thought they stopped at 4” I told her maybe they don’t in Louisiana. They are supposed to send us a DVD and some pictures of the event. The next one is scheduled for 2008 and my family and I plan to be there I am will tell my blog family all about the trip.

Ok so my 35th birthday is 6 days away and I have noidea as to what I am going do. Well I do know one thing, I will not be at work, aside from that I am stumped. My birthday is falling on a Friday this year which is a prime day for partying but I don’t feel like partying at least not a club. My middle sister has already got me signed up with the Karaoke crowd, which I have done since sometime in May, on Thursday. I have had a couple of calls from friends wanting to take me out to eat which it looks like that will be the plan.

I have been buried under mountains of work so that is why it has taken me some time to finish this family reunion story. Know that I have a moment let give you guys the rest of the story.
So after we fuel up and my cousin still refused the get in front of me I get on highway. Now if you have ever driven the highway you know that there are a number of lane changes you have to do in order to stay with the flow of traffic and maintain your speed, keep in mind I was traveling with my mother and my 75 year old great-aunt. So I am doing some lane changes, not too many, and my aunt asked, “Why do you have to change keep changing lanes?” (more…)

I know you all have been anxiously anticipating my story on my attending my first ever official family reunion. Well I won’t keep you waiting any longer here it go…

We all know that with any road trip nothing goes as smoothly and you plan and this trip was no exception. The first “hiccup” was the time we were going leave, let me give you a little insight into me, I am by no means a morning person. I do not like to get up early, taking into account the length of time it was going to take to get to OAK GROVE, 7 – 8 hours, I resolved that I was going to get on the road about 7am no later than 8, the festivities weren’t going to start until around 3pm. Well, my mom was cool with that time but my 75 year old great aunt and 57 year old cousin wasn’t. I don’t know what it is about old folks but they think everything is urgent and when you are traveling you need to “fo day in the morning”. I was not a happy camper but I since I respect my elders I did as I was asked; besides my mother had a 2pm doctor’s apt. in Monroe, Louisiana. (more…)

Well I am back from my adventures in Oak Grove Lousianna. I will blog about the reunion and my wild and crazy family later. I need a moment to collect myself after the 7 - 8 hour drive.

Tomorrow I will be on my way to my first family reunion ever (something I’ve always wanted to do). Yes, you read correctly, I have never attended a family reunion on either side of my family, sad but true. Now, we have had mini reunions, usually when someone dies and we get see family we haven’t seen in years or in the case of my dad, when my grandmother got dedicated to her church for her years of service we had a mini reunion, I have the video footage to prove it. But as far as getting the famous T-Shirt with the Family Tree or family name on the back or whatever the design, we have never done that on my dad’s side or on my mom’s side of the family.

On my dad’s side a couple of cousins and myself have decided to take on the daunting task of planning our very first one for next year. So you may see some future blogs entries about this task.

On my mom’s side of the family they just recently started having family reunions or maybe they just recently started including the Houston folks in the festivities. Whatever the case, we got the word this time, not in time enough to get a t-shirt but in time enough to get a hotel room and get things setup to attend the festivities. Maybe at the next one we will get the word soon enough to order our shirts. So OAK GROVE, LOUSIANNA here we come. I know, seems kind of anti-climatic when you think of the location. (near Monroe, LA).