We woke up and as we were getting dress there was a knock
on the door. It was Kayla seeing if we
were ready to go down to eat breakfast.
I told her no, but to save us a spot at the table.
We got downstairs and I knew the reunion had officially begun. Mort, Austin, Mason, Mijo, and Tigger had put
two tables together and were eating breakfast.
Mona, Kayla, Aunt Lavonia, and Uncle Bobby were at another table. We joined in the mix. The kids sat while I gathered their
breakfast. IT was great to have family
in town, at our hotel, eating together, talking to each other, laughing
together. We are part of an awesome
family.
Since we hadn’t made it to the Civil War Museum, I
suggested we do that since the first official family reunion event didn’t start
until 1PM; then my aunt announced she had a business call at 10AM. Yep, the family reunion had officially begun
and we weren’t going to the Civil War Museum, in fact we were going to be
sitting in the hotel until 1PM.
But I was wrong we didn’t stay in the hotel all morning,
nope at around 11:30AM, noonish, we drove over to the hotel across the street
where other family members were staying and chilled with them. Just like other reunions, hanging around the
hotel, waiting.
A little after one, we took off for the first reunion
event. As we pulled up to my cousin’s
house, I noticed the event was taking place in his yard. What in the world?! Did he notice it was hot? And not just hot- - humid?! But I sucked it up, turned off the air
conditioned car and got out. As usual, I
was right by Mona’s side cause who were these people? My mother’s cousins. My grandma’s nieces, nephews, great nieces,
great nephews, great great nieces and nephews.
I hadn’t been to a reunion in like eight or ten years. Thankfully the girls and Jory haven’t
inherited my need to stick with those I know and stick to them like glue in a
crowd full of “strangers” or strangers.
There was no shade to be found, so Mona, the kids, and I
sat closest to the tree. The plastic
chair was hot to my skin so I just sat on the edge. The kids discovered there were gift bags to
be had that had food in them. Breakfast
had been some time before and I was feeling munchies, but the kids’ goodie bags
were filled with things I couldn’t eat. Where
were the potato chips? I would have
eaten the Fritos or Cheetos or cheese puffs, but none were to be had. Why does everyone assume everyone loves
peanut butter? Not a fan. The kids happily ate the contents of their
bags. I looked around, but there seemed
to be no snacks for the adults. The
water was room-temperature, which I don’t mind at home or work, but not in 100
degree weather.
I found some popcorn in Jory’s bag and took it. And I sucked
it up and drank one of the kids’ flavored drinks. Jory and the girls went to sit on the
opposite of the yard with two other little kids. All seemed to be going well, until Kayla came
over and said the other little girl was saying “stupid.” Kayla, Rowan, and Layla moved away, but Jory
stayed sitting next to the girl, who had to be around his age. I thought about going to get him, but he
seemed to be enjoying talking to the boy, also around his age, who was sitting
on the other side of him.
We sat in the humid outdoors for an hour and a half, then
finally it was off to eat at Cracker Barrel.
Not sure why people love it so much, when they have ridiculous rules.
“Do you have fried pork chops?”
“No, only on Mondays.”
So you have no oil or flour to fry things on other days
of the week? French fries are offered so
you must have oil and the ability to fry things. And you sell biscuits, so you must have
flour, but you can only fry pork chops on Monday? Gotcha.
Why do restaurants do this? The
most ridiculous crap EVER.
I had grilled pork chops instead, which doesn’t even
taste the same. After lunch, we went to
another welcoming event that was full of more familiar faces. I still sat next to Mona. Visits twice a year make me a little clingy,
plus let’s be honest she would be heartbroken if I didn’t sit by her, hugging
her, talking to her, and kissing her.
We went around introducing ourselves and explaining how
we are all related. Jory and the girls
all spoke up for themselves, but he was the only to explain how he was related
to the others in the room. After hanging
out with the fam for a while, it was back to our hotel.
“Mommy, if we’re quiet in the car, can we go swimming
when we get to our new house?” the baby asked.
If you’re quiet on the three minute drive back to our
hotel which is one stop light, directly across the street from our hotel? Quiet on that entire ride?
“Yes, you can go swimming.”
“Yeah!!!” she cried ecstatically. Cheers were heard all around.
We got back to the hotel and I was informed Mort wanted a
boy day, he was collecting Mijo, Tigger, and Jory, and taking them back to his Presidential
Suite. (He and Renee had a room where
the toilets stopped working, then their second room, the shower wasn’t working
properly, so they got bumped up to Presidential Suite on the 70th
floor.) Sounded good to me, so I got
Jory’s clothes together while he grabbed his truck and off he went.
The girls went temporarily insane, so I sent them to
bed. I grabbed my phone and watched the
BET Awards while they slept. The tribute
to Whitney was nice, I was amazed that her mom and her brother had the ability five months after her death to sing in a tribute to her. The rest of the show was aight, but sometimes this network - - all you can do is just
shake your head.
So another day in the ATL and tomorrow the 4th
of July.
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