Family Reunions Were Better Than Christmas To My Dad

It has been so long since I have sat down to write here. I am not sure what the reason is....
I need to get back to it.....hello to anyone who comes here to see what is going on....
I am copying to here an email I sent to my family about our reunion yesterday....it is a start...

Yesterday mom and I went to the reunion in Washington, MO. The weather was good, cloudy but not too hot or too cold, the food was plentiful and wonderful as always, the company was loving and welcoming... ..here is how we happened to attend something that my mom has been saying for MONTHS she would not attend....

Mom was pretty adamant about NOT attending because she thought it would be too hard to go since the reunion was like Christmas to my dad. He talked about it all year long.....he loved his family more than anything and this was the chance to have most of them in one place....... .okay, I will admit I cried while typing that.
We go on......

I had asked mom earlier in the week again if she wanted to go and she said no. I told her that I thought we should go because of how much dad loved the reunion and she said she could not go.....I said mom, say you don't want to go...but not that you cannot go....because you can do anything you set your mind to! :o) She did not want to go.

Yesterday while "Internet talking" to Karla I told her I was going to call mom one more time and see if I could get her to go.....when I called mom she said that she had been thinking about going...that she woke up crying and thought she needed to be around people. Well, I thought, what better people than people who loved dad too!!

So off we went. I am so glad that she decided to go. Sure it was hard...you know how dad was organized and kept things rolling.. (a few times I found myself looking around for him when people would ask about the silent action...remember how he would climb up on the bench and yell how much time was left?)...but we had a good time!!
Special thanks to Aunt Peggy for the beautiful prayer which was the only time all day that I cried. After 10 months there are times when it is like it happened yesterday but other times when there is just a warm glow and I know that dad is still with me......

I am so grateful that last year there were so many of us at the reunion. That was so special and meant so much to dad. Little did we know......
but the memories are there forever!!!

Ricky Wright was there yesterday but I did not get to see him because he went home to rest. He has had such a hard year. Please keep him in your prayers. He has completed this round of chemo and goes in later this month to see if the tumor has shrunk. I am sure he is still grieving the loss of his sweet wife Teresa. Prayers to him!

Family means everything. So if there is a reunion in your future you should attend! It is always a blessing to stay connected to your roots.....and there is always good food!!
But I do have to tell you.....no one bids on a silent auction like Vernon Cooper's daughters!!! You guys were missed!!! :o) The bidding was extremely low and uninspiring without you...nothing says love like a few sisters trying to out bid each other!!
(Donna I love my new bracelet! I know Aunt Gloria would have been in heavy competition with me to get it so I literally stole it because she was not there to bump up the price!)

To my family....I love you. Thanks for loving my dad and thanks for not forgetting us in this hardest year of our lives!

My love always and forever,
Cindy