Orange and purple starfish. I spotted them quite a ways down the beach. Doesn't this photo look surreal?
We just returned from a 5 day camping trip to Port Orford, Oregon. It's a place where I try to imagine I could live but know in my heart that I am no longer a small-town girl and it would be a slow torture for a wanderer like me. But I do love Port Orford.
Part of my family lives there and this was our third annual visit for a cousins reunion. It wasn't easy to cram a year's worth of visiting into less than 48 hours. I guess what was left unsaid will remain so. The important thing is we got to set eyes on each other and breath a sigh of relief for those who are still with us and looking good. It was a very good year for our families. We are survivors.
Laughter was at the center of the big bonfire and the full moon provided the perfect backlighting for an awesome Saturday night. I got to meet relatives I have never seen before and others I haven't seen in far too long. The younger 2nd cousins played together and it was great to see them making memories that will likely be much the same as ours. I wonder how they will re-tell their stories of staying up late and hearing their parents recount decades of childhoods spent playing and working together?
We shared a potluck lunch and later roasted hot dogs on the bonfire. It seemed we would never run out of things to talk about; careers, recipes, antedotes for diaper rash, the death of transients, weather, dogs, and the economy. Thankfully, we left politics and religion for another day. We drove away and I had the feeling that we would pick up right where we left off next August. I hope so, anyway.
Before we all left, we gathered for a group photo. Luckily, I knew how to use the timer on my camera and was able to run quickly from the porch/deck down to the gathering spot. That's me all hunched up on the left-hand side of this photo. I was squinting to see when the camera clicked.
It's hard to believe another year has gone by. We talked about the date we'll meet up again next year. I wonder what news we'll have to talk about then?
Does your family have a reunion?
We have a family reunion with my paternal grandmother's side of the family every year, but I missed it this year. They usually have it the first weekend of August, but for some reason they changed the date this year after we had already arranged the time for the first weekend--the new date landed at a time we could not go. :(
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