Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published July 17, 2002

It was like Grand Central
Station for a while

Several days ago I overheard my husband tell a friend that the sliding glass doors leading to our deck would probably never be cleaned again. There was good reason for that remark if exaggerated. The glass on those doors is filled with precious fingerprints of two great-grandsons, ages 3 and 6, and one 3-year-old grandson. At nightfall all three lined up there to watch our raccoon visitor's feast.

Those little fingerprints were left during a rare family reunion. The last time our four children and their families were all in the same place at the same time was 10 years ago. Yes, parts of our family have been together here and there during that span of time but never the entire family. At this long-planned reunion only four were missing. One daughter-in-law was having a bout with shingles, and the doctor forbade her to be around children. Three adult grandchildren were unable to change their work schedules.

Originally the reunion was planned for last October, and then Sept. 11 changed everything. Everyone was determined to reschedule the get-together, and a May weekend was chosen. All the October airline reservations were changed to May, and this time all went well.

The Colorado family arrived at the Nashville airport late Thursday evening and drove a rental car here arriving in the wee hours of Friday. Later that day our oldest son and family arrived from the Tar Heel State by car. He works in Miami, FL, all week and flies to North Carolina to spend the weekend with his child and wife who works there. On this special weekend he had extra travel time.

The next group arrived on Saturday. Our actor grandson flew to Cincinnati from New York City, and his dad who lives in Ohio picked him up and drove here. Back at the Nashville airport our youngest son flew in from Texas and met his daughter and her husband when their plane arrived from Maryland. Our Navy grandson drove his family here from Virginia. Their third son had been born just five weeks before, so he was the youngest and newest family member at the reunion.

Just recounting all the travel involved in that all-too-short weekend makes my head spin! Was it worth it? All one had to do was to listen to the conversations and see the happy smiles on faces to know what a foolish question that was. After many years of cooking for two I proved to myself I hadn't forgotten how to feed a crowd.

The exodus began Sunday morning when the Texas and Maryland families left for the airport. Later that day the Ohio, New York father-son duo headed north. Once again the Colorado family crept away in the predawn hours of Monday to catch their early-morning flight. Later Monday morning our firstborn headed back to North Carolina with his family and once there board his flight to Florida.

The last family stayed Monday night, which gave Grandpa and Grandson time to have a golf game. Tuesday morning they packed their van, buckled three little boys into car seats and waved good-bye. As they drove away I wondered if we would have raised four children had there been child car seat restrictions in those days.

And so the reunion was over but the last words from all were, "Next year!" That will be my incentive to polish the glass on the sliding doors.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.