Tuesday, February 21, 2006
BACK TO THE FUTURE....OUR STRICKLETT REUNION
I wrote about our August Stricklett Reunion last year when we attended. I’m reprinting it for the record…….August 2005.…Blair, Nebraska.
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Have you ever wanted to roll the calendar back and be a kid again? Even better, a kid at your grandmother’s house with the cousin’s to play with? It can happen and it did happen in our family. A Nebraska cousin decided someone had better make the effort because there hadn’t been one since our aunt Mary died.
The reunions were always in Nebraska, at grandma’s house and in August. Grandma’s birthday was the 20th, aunt Mary’s was the 18th. The “Reunions” started when uncle Tom and aunt Inabelle moved to Washington D.C. in 1940. They came home every year for grandma’s birthday and all of the Stricklett siblings who could, came back at the same time. It was wonderful in those days because my cousins and I were all young and grandma and our aunts and uncles were very productive and there was much merriment and stories over days gone by.
Grandma’s house became a hotel for everyone. We were bedded everywhere from the floor to the ceilings and we ate in shifts. There were six aunts and uncles, their spouses and a bevy of cousins. On the day of the reunion, grandma and the “girls” were in the kitchen frying chickens that were home grown, making potato salad and baked beans…….various other side dishes and desserts. When the time came, everyone headed for the City Park where the swimming pool was with lots of playground equipment. The men and some of the boys would go earlier in the morning to save the largest shelter for our picnic.
As a young girl it was fun to hang around the kitchen and listen to the aunts as they laughed and talked together and prepared the food. By the time we were assembled at the park everyone was eager to eat the bounty brought by the family. Each year it was the same and each year another cousin or two would be added. As the years went by……..we cousins married and began having children of our own. Our family grew to a large number but as it must be……some of the numbers began leaving us. One by one they disappeared until the death of aunt Mary ended the reunions in 1987, at least as we knew them, then.
Earlier this year our cousin Bruce sent out emails asking if anyone would be interested in coming together for a reunion of the Stricklett’s. With the death of my brother it left 16 cousins, one aunt who was a Stricklett, and an aunt and uncle by marriage. He received a resounding “yes” from everyone and we stepped up to be counted. Only three would be absent. One cousin was in the process of moving to Arizona, one couldn’t come due to a new job and only one was deceased….my brother.
We came by planes, trains and automobiles. But we came. We came from all over the U.S. to assemble once again where our roots ran deep and sound. It reminded me of the movie, “Cocoon” where the elderly people jumped into the pool and became kids again. We each had grown up with different cousins and so they were sought out along with squeals of recognition and laughter at pot bellies, balding heads, wrinkles and cellulite. It didn’t matter. For a few magical hours we were all kids again and having the time of our lives. It was fun showing off our own kids, many of whom made the effort to come and had only heard about some of the cousins from their parents. In my case, we picked George up in Shawnee and then John arrived at the KCI terminal just five minutes before we picked him up. Becky wasn’t able to come because of a broken leg.
After leaving the park, some of us assembled at Joy and Dan’s home where they have renovated grandma’s old house into a beautiful work of art……with a yard of flowers, a quiet patio and a trickling pool. It is a work of love and the house is filled with three generations, coming and going……..bringing a lot of energy with them.
As we drove away from the house where my brother and I were born I was wondering…..what would the old house say if it could talk? Would it say that we were happy? Would it say that we stood proud? How I wish that I could listen, if that old house talked out loud!
Thanks to Bruce and all the cousins who put the time and effort in to make it happen. We have exchanged email addresses and our love for each other……God keep you all….until we meet again.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
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Have you ever wanted to roll the calendar back and be a kid again? Even better, a kid at your grandmother’s house with the cousin’s to play with? It can happen and it did happen in our family. A Nebraska cousin decided someone had better make the effort because there hadn’t been one since our aunt Mary died.
The reunions were always in Nebraska, at grandma’s house and in August. Grandma’s birthday was the 20th, aunt Mary’s was the 18th. The “Reunions” started when uncle Tom and aunt Inabelle moved to Washington D.C. in 1940. They came home every year for grandma’s birthday and all of the Stricklett siblings who could, came back at the same time. It was wonderful in those days because my cousins and I were all young and grandma and our aunts and uncles were very productive and there was much merriment and stories over days gone by.
Grandma’s house became a hotel for everyone. We were bedded everywhere from the floor to the ceilings and we ate in shifts. There were six aunts and uncles, their spouses and a bevy of cousins. On the day of the reunion, grandma and the “girls” were in the kitchen frying chickens that were home grown, making potato salad and baked beans…….various other side dishes and desserts. When the time came, everyone headed for the City Park where the swimming pool was with lots of playground equipment. The men and some of the boys would go earlier in the morning to save the largest shelter for our picnic.
As a young girl it was fun to hang around the kitchen and listen to the aunts as they laughed and talked together and prepared the food. By the time we were assembled at the park everyone was eager to eat the bounty brought by the family. Each year it was the same and each year another cousin or two would be added. As the years went by……..we cousins married and began having children of our own. Our family grew to a large number but as it must be……some of the numbers began leaving us. One by one they disappeared until the death of aunt Mary ended the reunions in 1987, at least as we knew them, then.
Earlier this year our cousin Bruce sent out emails asking if anyone would be interested in coming together for a reunion of the Stricklett’s. With the death of my brother it left 16 cousins, one aunt who was a Stricklett, and an aunt and uncle by marriage. He received a resounding “yes” from everyone and we stepped up to be counted. Only three would be absent. One cousin was in the process of moving to Arizona, one couldn’t come due to a new job and only one was deceased….my brother.
We came by planes, trains and automobiles. But we came. We came from all over the U.S. to assemble once again where our roots ran deep and sound. It reminded me of the movie, “Cocoon” where the elderly people jumped into the pool and became kids again. We each had grown up with different cousins and so they were sought out along with squeals of recognition and laughter at pot bellies, balding heads, wrinkles and cellulite. It didn’t matter. For a few magical hours we were all kids again and having the time of our lives. It was fun showing off our own kids, many of whom made the effort to come and had only heard about some of the cousins from their parents. In my case, we picked George up in Shawnee and then John arrived at the KCI terminal just five minutes before we picked him up. Becky wasn’t able to come because of a broken leg.
After leaving the park, some of us assembled at Joy and Dan’s home where they have renovated grandma’s old house into a beautiful work of art……with a yard of flowers, a quiet patio and a trickling pool. It is a work of love and the house is filled with three generations, coming and going……..bringing a lot of energy with them.
As we drove away from the house where my brother and I were born I was wondering…..what would the old house say if it could talk? Would it say that we were happy? Would it say that we stood proud? How I wish that I could listen, if that old house talked out loud!
Thanks to Bruce and all the cousins who put the time and effort in to make it happen. We have exchanged email addresses and our love for each other……God keep you all….until we meet again.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
