Last March I was visiting my grandmother's sister, my Aunt Jane, who will be 90 next year. She mentioned that her grandson, my cousin Will, who has lived in Australia for probably 10 years now, was bringing his whole family back home for a visit. I said to myself, well, that's a Hartge party waiting to happen! So I went ahead and made plans to go home. Apparently, several did as well. We had cousins from everywhere come to town for this unofficial family reunion. Between my grandmother and her sister, my Aunt Jane's kids and their kids and their kids, I think we were only missing 2 counsins. I think.
Anyway, anytime I go home, I always am excited. To be able to spend time with my family obviously doesn't come along near enough since we're seperated by 800 miles. And add Kayla into the mix now . . . well, needless to say I get excited about going back home. (Kayla has grown SOOO much. When I saw her last, in February, she had just turned a year old, was still in a rear-facing car seat, had just started crawling, wore 12 mos clothes, just started eating people food, took 2 naps, and jabbered on but we couldn't understand anything she said. More on what she can do now later.)
Dad and Kayla picked me up at the airport because Mom, Kim, and Bud were unavailable. As we were driving home, it was such a perfect summer Maryland day . . . in the low 80s - no humidty - light breeze . . . that Dad decided that we should go to the park. And Dad being the observant one that he is, said he was going to stay in the van for a few minutes. I thought maybe his hip was bothering him (because he just had the left one replaced 6 we
eks ago, but he's doing amazingly well!) So I got Kayla out of her car seat (who is now facing forward . . . something new since I saw her in February), put her down, took her hand and we walked over the playground. Yes. We. Walked. Although she prefers to run everywhere, she is walking like a grown-up girl now. Sheesh. And has grown a foot, I think! Well come to find out, Dad wanted us to have bonding time. He knew that if he was out there with us, she would want him to do everything. So he was giving us time to get to know each other again. (I have to post a new picture, I mean really, it's my Kayla!)She is the cutest. Seriously. The cutest. She still has little hair except in the back . . . kind of like a baby mullet. But it's slowly coming in. Mom thinks she gets that from me because I was the same way. But if she has my hair, she's one blessed girl because I have great hair (doesn't always look great, but it's healthy and I have a TON of it!) After the park, we went home and had lunch then laid down for a nap. Well, Kayla and Dad did. I did some work from my laptop. Then Kayla woke up. Her new favorite thing is bubbles which is a word she can say. So we sat out on the back porch and blew bubbles for 30 mins. She really does love them. And Dad and I got a kick out of blowing them for her and listening to her giggle.
Speaking of the back porch. My parents have the best. My Dad LOVES birds. He must have 10 different feeders and plants to attract them. All sorts -- flemings, hummingbirds, cardinals, etc. So to sit out on the back porch, well, it's just so restful between listening to the birds in the yard, watching the osprey family flying above, and the black squirrels running around. I told my parents that if I lived there, I would never get anything done because I would want to sit on the back porch all day long and just watch and read.
Anyway, Kim, Bud, and Mom all returned home and we went to meet my mom's immediate family (brother-sister and their kids minus 5) at a seafood restaurant that is just down the road and has INCREDIBLE food. Even missing the 4 cousins and my dad, we still had 14 people. I had soft shell crabs . . . they of course were delicious!
Saturday morning, we just hung out at the house. Bud, Kim, and Kayla are living with my parents right now while they get their house ready to put on the market. So ALL of us just hung out. Kayla, again, what a character. She loves to sing. She's learning one-syllable word songs. She gets stuck on that word though. She's learned the pitches and will just break out into song with no words and you know exactly what she's singing. But when she tries to add the words, she gets stuck in the loop. Row, Row, Row your boat becomes Row, row, row, row, row, row, row . . . until you start laughing at her and then she laughs right along with you.
When I was growing up, one of my earliest memories of my mom's mom, my Granmardi, is being at her house and walking up the steps in her house. There is a Christopher Robin poem we would ALWAYS recite . . . every time we went up or down the steps. Mom has carried on that tradition with Kayla. "There is a stair where I always sit. There is no other quite like it. It's not at the bottom. It's not at the top. It is the stair where I always stop." Kayla is the same as I was . . . every. time. She stops at a stair. It's not always the same one. But she always does it. And won't move until you say it. :~)
That afternoon, we headed to the unofficial Hartge (hart-je) family reunion. I'm telling you. I don't need to get married and have kids. There are enough in our family who are taking care of that. There were kiddos EVERYWHERE. I hadn't really thought about it. I got to catch up with so many aunts and uncles and cousins. It was a blast. We should do this more often.
The funniest thing though. Having lived in Tennesse for 18 years now, I get teased in Maryland because of my "southern" accent (what. ever.) Well, apparently, the same thing happens when you live in Australia for 10 years. I'm hugging and looking at this cousin whom I've known all my life (he's only 6 months younger than I am). But he starts talking and it's as if he was raised in a different country. We agreed not to tease each other because he says I sound like I was raised by Scarlett O'hera. But it was just weird. I'm expecting him to talk one way and well, my brain just hurt trying to wrap around this accent of his.
A great time was had by all. It was again the perfect summer Maryland day. We swam, ate, talked, talked some more, and either participated or watched a soccer game, botchiball, and/or horseshoes. We got home late and all slept very good that night.
The next day was Sunday and the WHOLE family was going to church. I think my Dad walked a little prouder knowing his whole family would be sitting in church with him. Mom and I sang. Then Bud, Kim, and Kayla headed to Virginia to see her family who they hadn't seen in a while. Later that afternoon, we headed to my aunt's house, who lives in my grandmother's house (where I used to recite the Christopher Robin poem) for dinner and horseshoes. Again, another perfect Maryland day. And on top of that, we realized it was my grandfather's birthday (who used to live in the same house.) A thundersorm was headed up the bay and we finished dinner out on the porch just in time before it started raining. Then after cleaning up, we headed out to the front porch which is covered and sheltered, to watch the storm roll through. 13 of us this time. And we sat there for probably for more than 2 hours just talking and remembering and watching and listening and laughing.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. And I have the best family. We may not always agree or get along . . . but we love each other.
(P.S. I have some pictures but I left my camera in Maryland. So I'll upload some pictures once my Mom sends it back to me.)
No comments:
Post a Comment