Family Ties

I spent part of last week at something that most people dread: the good ole family reunion. Which crazily, I love. There's just something so comforting about being around people that have known you all of your life, yet love you anyway.

There are about 30 of us that get together in the North Carolina mountains every summer. We rent several houses and do cheesy things like themed shrimp boils and game nights. And I love every minute of it. Mainly because I feel so blessed to have such a wonderfully loud, close-knit family. As much as they can irritate me at times, I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Madden also attended the family reunion and probably got more attention in 3 days than she'll get in the next 3 months. Not only were my younger cousins scratching each other's faces for a chance to hold her, there was a summer camp for foster kids right down the road. Which caused our daily walks to feel bizarrely like brushes with the Vietcong. Little people would literally hurl themselves at us from behind trees, guerrilla warfare-style. Which was cute, but startling.

My favorite part of the entire trip was when several of my cousins and I got tipsy on margaritas, crashed a barn dance and square danced for three hours straight. Which sounds terrible, but was actually loads of fun. I promenaded, do-si-doed and twirled to my heart's content.

Don't laugh, but I'm seriously considering finding a square dance club in town. I might be the only member under 65, but hey...that'd make it even more fun.

But if the gramps started playing grab ass, I'd be out of there before you could say "two step".