This past weekend we attended the first gathering of the Mark and Agnes Scobey children and grandchildren. Mark and Agnes brought forth my two brothers, Mark, now 70, and Paul, now 69, and me, 67. Each of us have been married since the sixties and together we have ten children. Mark and Alice and all of their children live in Nebraska. Paul and Marianne and one of their two girls live near Milwaukee and the other daughter and family lives in Ohio. Bing and I are up here in the Northwoods where one son and his family live. Our oldest son and his two children live near Green Bay. And the middle son and his wife live in Portland, Or. When our neice put out the feeler e-mail early this Spring to see if anyone was interested in gathering at their house , every single one of the family units responded in the positive. Wow, I was really excited because that meant that the folks were willing to set aside the time and the money to travel from far and wide to meet and mingle and reacquaint. My giddy excitement stemmed from the deep deep family love that is forged by growing up with siblings. For better or for worse, you have started your life stories together. You've shared joys and sorrows, grandparents, aunts and uncles, the family home, values and personality traits. We three siblings last lived together in 1961, and have kept in touch through the last half century by snail mail, attending various weddings and funerals, sharing some holidays and vacations and more recently by the magic of computer communication and Facebook. We've raised our families as best we could, brought forth some kind, friendly, funny people and tried to live and love and learn. The reunion was great and it meant so much that the younger generation cared enough to be there. We shared old memories and made new ones. Thank you, God for family.
