Over the Garden Fence: Reunions, a 'Minor' one
So many times friends have mentioned that they were off to a family reunion for the day. A few have a two-day event. Every one of them speaks of making and bringing a pot luck dish. For most it is a family treasured recipe that all the others look forward to scarfing down.
Many months ago my Minor husband began a conversation with his sister Sue Masengale. They wanted to bring any and all remnants of the Minor family together. Sue reckoned that her trip from Los Angeles to Tiffin with her husband Denton and care-taker Teresa for a Heidelberg reunion might be a good point for this coming together. Further, Bucyrus would become headquarters.
Immediate family could stay in our home and we would secure four motel rooms.
In the process of planning, a nephew in La Jolla, California, discovered that he had a great aunt and uncle in Ohio — us. And cousins. Ben called and was totally committe, even taking off a week from two jobs to fly east.
Our niece Claire, married for 20 years to a pilot, traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, and drove her folks Patricia (Bill's older sister) and husband Todd to Bucyrus; they stayed for a week. One remaining cousin, Rick and wife Kathy, made the trip from Alexandria, Virginia, for four days.
Our own children came and stayed for various stretches. A chart had to be constructed so we could figure out when we could all be here.
Even David, Claire's husband, flew into Columbus from Colorado. Danielle was here all week, Anne and her family in and out, David and wife Sarah 4 days.
The chart revealed that all 24 Minor relatives could be here on a Tuesday.
This whole event began the week before as Heidelberg alumni united and rolled right into the next week. Some of the matriarch's recipes were used for meals. A Tuesday crock pot night brought tons of chicken and dumplings. As Danielle and Anne labored with that, I set up a gigantic salad bar.
We crammed 14 around two tables set up in the dining room, six were seated in the kitchen and four in the living room because the porch was too cold; it had rained all day.
There was no cancellation. We had cakes, balloons, and gifts for 4 family members and hired a photographer who managed a session with us standing just inside the garage with bunting behind us.
Each evening except that rainy one, 12 or 13 of us would congregate on the screened porch. The Minors went into sharing memories. We took our own candid shots. Because we are older, in our 80s, reality began to set the stage for being together for other than a wedding or a funeral.
We agreed that whether we were a first cousin once removed, or twice removed, did not matter. We were family. We did it. We succeeded in uniting.
My 7 a.m. runs to Kroger for more provisions were worth it. We only bought donuts one morning from Morning Glory. Ben fit in with our grandchildren and the adults. The closest emergency was a call for Tums from Denton. And a great discovery was that Claire's husband David knows how to make Bavarian pretzels, which was a bit of a surprise coming from a pilot with 37 years of flight time.
I share all this to let you know that all my not-so-crafty gardening efforts drew many praises. This despite piles of deadheading, plants waiting to be planted, and fencing to keep deer off lilies. I guess they focused on the gobs of coreopsis and penstemon.
We may never come together again but we can say there was one grand 10-day Minor reunion.
Mary Lee Minor is a member of the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club, an accredited master gardener, a flower show judge for the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs and a former sixth grade teacher.
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Over the Garden Fence: 'Minor' reunion: We are family
