As a kid, the time I looked forward to most over the summer was the first full weekend of August. During this time, my entire extended family meets at a Lake in Ohio to reconnect. Upwards of 100 people attend the family reunion, and it is one of the only times where I can see my whole family. 

As I grew older, my cousins attended the reunion less frequently, but I continued to go. I began to learn that the reunion is about more than just play. The reunion is about helping your grandmother clean off her porcelain rooster collection. It’s about walking your aunt’s Great Dane puppy and sitting on the carpet with your grandparents’ old Rrodierian ridgeback. It’s about loading plates of food into your grandmother’s car and watching your family enjoy the food that you helped make. The reunion is about community and working together. 

The last night of the reunion this year my immediate family held a gathering at our house. We set up beach chairs and laid out a pad for the younger cousins to lay on the front lawn. The whole family took a turn singing karaoke, and later Jumanji lit up on a projector screen. We made popcorn and passed out sliced watermelon. The younger cousins laughed, watermelon dripping down their faces, and I thought to myself, this is what the reunion is about.