Meine Familie

A couple of people were really surprised when I mentioned yesterday that I belong to a family that has over 1000 people at the reunion.  I feel that I need to explain:

I am a 7th generation member of this family.  A reunion is held every other year for the descendants of my paternal great-great-great-great grandfather.  His second son and third child is my great-great-great grandfather; they immigrated to Texas from Olfen, Germany in 1846 when he was 20 years old.  My great grandfather (Grospapa as he was called) married his wife in the same church where my parents were married.  I love that church:  It is gorgeous. 

 (Photo courtesy of St. Monica Catholic Church Website)

 

That is the parish where my mom grew up; many weddings, Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, and funerals were attended by my maternal family there.  It's also where my uncles celebrated their first Mass as Priests.  Both sets of my grandparents were laid to rest there.

The reunion was held this year, and it appears attendance was down to a little over 700.  I have no idea when I last went.   While I was looking at the records from the past years, I saw my family's name under "Largest family"  for 1970.  I remember going when I was around 12 or so, so I must have gone at least one time after that record breaking year!  I know my mom has some pictures, but that would require me going to her house, looking for the picture, and scanning it.  Maybe one of these days that will get done!

And there you have a brief history of my family.  I think it's important to know where we came from.  If you're in Texas and this sounds familiar (maybe a little too familiar!), let me know.  We just may be related!

Random Dozen is BACK!

Oh, Linda, how I missed you this summer!  She's back with a new Random Dozen.  To play along, answer the questions, then click on the above button and link up.  Then all you have to do is go visitin'!

1. When was the last time you laughed until you cried?

   A few weeks ago, at one of the Speech Pathologists' Meeting.  I have no idea what we were talking about, but it really struck me as funny.  We have a really good, fun group.

2. If you found $10 today, what would you do with it?

Starbucks, baby!

3. Do you volunteer anywhere?

Not unless getting roped into helping the high school band counts.  I'm getting way too old

for that stuff!

4. What is your favorite summertime veggie or fruit, and how do you eat it?

There's nothing like watermelon on a hot summer day!  When I buy one, I cut the whole thing up.  Oh, and I buy seedless...it's too much trouble to spit out the seeds!

5. Is your social sphere (circle of friends) small, medium or large?

I'd have to say small.  I have a lot of acquaintances, but true friends?  I have sisters.  I was telling someone the other day that friends will come & go, but a sister is there forever.  No matter what.

(Wish I had a picture to insert here!  I need to figure out how to work the scanner!)

6. When was the last time you attended a family or school reunion? How did that go?

I just had my 30th high school reunion over the summer.  It was good to see everybody, but by the time I graduated, I really didn't run around with anyone from my class.  I was ready to move on.  So, when some of them were talking about things that happened our senior year, I just sat there.

I'm a member of the largest family reunion in Tx.; they have the reunion every other year.  I had originally made plans to go, but decided against it.  There are usually over 1000 people there, and I only know a handful.   Maybe in 2 years!

7. When you're feeling blue, what is the best way someone can cheer you up?

Bring me chocolate.

8. Have you taken a vacation this summer?

Husband, YS, and I went to DC for a quick 2 days.  It was a "working vacation" for husband, but it was a good 2 1/2 days.

9. What is the most unnecessary item you carry with you all the time?

Lipstick  I probably have 10 tubes in my pocketbook, but only use a couple.  My favorite lip thing is Burt's Bees:  Watermelon.  There is also a Neutrogena lipstick that is coming in a close 2nd.

10. What is the best summer flick you have seen so far?

Book of Eli.  Incredible.  Denzel Washington never ceases to amaze me.

11. Describe a perfect summer day.

Waking up to the sound of waves, breakfast on a deck overlooking the ocean, reading & sleeping in a chair under an umbrella on the beach, dinner at a seafood restaurant, followed by lounging on the deck until it's too dark to see.  Here's the funny thing:  I think the beach would be the perfect place if it wasn't for all that sand!  

12. Please a share a favorite photo from the summer so far!

 

 I absolutely love this picture.  It was taken in Cades Cove this June.  Husband's uncle & lady friend were here from Denmark.  We were just driving into The Cove, and the horses were running across the pasture to get food.  It rained earlier in the day, and there were a lot of low clouds.   You may have to click on the picture  to enlarge it in order to enjoy all of the beauty.

Mean Girls

 A couple of Saturdays ago, Husband & I went to my 30th high school reunion.  At the suggestion of one of our classmates, we had an "open mike" for about 15-30 minutes.  Anyone who wanted could get up and relive a memory or say whatever was on their mind.  One of my classmates that I had known forever (I don't remember a time when I didn't know  her) got  up in front of everybody.  She said that she had been talking to a friend of hers a couple of days before, and they were talking about the reunion.  Her friend asked her who the mean girl of our class was.  My classmate  said she thought about it for a while,and then she realized it was her!  She apologized to everybody for being the "mean girl".
So, I started thinking about the whole "Mean Girl" thing.  I really don't think of her as being mean.  I told her that if she was mean to me, it went right over my head  and I had no idea she had been mean to me.  We had gone our different ways many years  before.  There was no animosity;  our lives just went on different tracks.  But, I still  counted her as one of my closest friends.  And, I stood up for her as if she was  my sister.
I could point out many girls  who said or did something mean to me during our jr. high and high school years; things that knocked the self-confidence out of me and made me feel inferior to everybody else.  Then, ashamed, I thought about the things I had said or had done to other people in my class.  Haven't we all been "mean girls" at some point in our life?  Isn't that just part of growing up?
When I was  in the latter  years of my high school, I didn't really hang out with the girls in my class.  I was never much of a drama queen:  I have no use  for it, which is why I'm pretty sure God just gave me boys!  I hung out with people older & younger than I.  By the time I was a senior, I was sooo over high school.  I was ready to move on  and get on with my life.
Yesterday a co-worker and I were talking about high school.  We both came to the conclusion that if we had to do one part  of our school life  over, we'd much rather do college than high school.  What would you choose and why?

Friday's Fave Fives

        

1.  Hanging out with classmates from way back when:

 And reliving high school memories:

2.  Plants still blooming (you didn't think I wasn't going to get my plants in this week, did you?):

3.   This has become my best friend over the past couple of days:

  YS was my favorite yesterday:  he went to the grocery store with me so I wouldn't have to pick anything up.  He's a good boy!

4.  Wimbledon.  And records being broken.  John Isner & Nicolas Mahut:  Longest match and most aces in the history of the tournament.  The match spanned 3 days, and rain wasn't to blame this time.  11 hours and 5 minutes.  Ridiculous!

5.  I'm not a Clinton fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I did think it was very cool that he spent so much time in the USA Soccer Team's locker room after their win over Algeria on Wednesday.  The article mentioned that this song (Represent by Weezer) was playing in the locker room:


I love watching Dempsey dancing about 30 seconds into the video.  Just makes you feel all patriotic, doesn't it?

I have to put in this blog I found this week:

Never Growing Old

Java has a section on her blog for over 40's, and it's called (oddly enough) Over 40 Bloggers.  If you fit into that category, stop by and see her, leave a comment, and get on board!  She also has Follow Friday 40 and Over.  Sorry, you young chickies...you have to be 40 or over to participate!

Weekend Snapshot

*I have to start with this:

I attended my 30th class reunion on Saturday night.  We had a good turnout:  a little over half of the class was there!  It was absolutely wonderful to see a lot of people I haven't seen since we graduated.  Even our FES (Foreign Exchange Student) from Sri Lanka came; he's living in Canada now, but he made it down!  Here's a picture of me & a childhood friend:

I've known her ever since I can remember.  Her family lived up the street from us, and we were always back and forth between houses when we were little.  We fought like sisters, but always managed to make up.  We went to parochial school together in 1st grade and then started public school together.  I think I kind of tagged along with her at first; she was a lot more "worldly" than I.  I had stayed at home with my mom until 1st grade; both of her parents worked, and she went to Kindergarten, so she knew how to survive alone!  Toward the end of elementary school, we started to go our separate ways.  It was so good to see her again!  We picked up right where we left off!

* Husband had a nice, quiet Father's Day yesterday.  We watched some World Cup, saw a movie, and then went out to dinner.  He had already gotten his present 2 weeks ago (remember we thought the 6th was Father's day?), but he did get a phone call from Oldest Son.

* We saw "The A-Team" yesterday.  Being in a house with all boys, I have to bear through am lucky enough to have the opportunity to see a lot of action movies.  Some I like, some...not so much.  In the early days of our marriage, Husband and I were big fans of the A-Team when it was on tv.  We liked it so much that we named one of our dogs Murdock, for the crazy character who was the pilot.  (Murdock the dog went to live with my sister.  We lived in an apartment and he was chewing everything up.  He lived a happy life with her and her family and was very much loved.)  I really enjoyed the movie...there was action, but there were a lot of funny lines.  I loved Liam Neeson as Hannibal, and Bradley Cooper as Face.  Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as "BA" was a very nice replacement for Mr. T; he's a much better actor, for sure!  And, Murdock:  Sharlto Copley.  There were times when he was on screen I could've sworn he was the original actor, Dwight Schultz.  No nudity, some cussing, but it wasn't every other word, and it wasn't put in just for the sake of doing it.  A lot of things blowing up, a lot of action...perfect Father's Day movie! 

*  Army Wives:  I could've sworn when I watched it on 23 May they said it was the season finale.  (Guess it's kind of like the Father's Day mix up, huh?!)  But, I realized yesterday that they are still running new shows.  Thank goodness for all of the episodes being online! I got caught up and watched the new episode last night.  I watched "The Next Food Network Star" (Bye-Bye Dzintra...in my opinion you were there a week too long!)and played "Catch-up" with Army Wives during the commercials.   Then, when the "real" episode came on, I watched it, while watching last week's episode during commercials.  And now I'm all caught up!  WHEW!

All in all, we had a pretty relaxing weekend.  I'm looking forward to a wonderful week!