Cousin and Familiy Reunion

I opened the letter from my aunt and read with amusement as it announced a family reunion. The reunion was to be held at a scout camp and would be a rustic retreat and a chance for us to renew old families ties. The date of the reunion fit in with my schedule as I was on fall break from the university,so I decided to attend. I sent in my fee and made plans to see cousins I had not seen in years.

The weekend of the reunion I arrived early and was somewhat surprised that the accommodations were indeed spartan. All of us were to sleep in a huge barn, in which cots had been placed on the floor. No provisions had been made for privacy whatsoever. There were, however, six fairly large bathrooms in the barn, with showers.

At 55, I was one of the oldest in attendance. Apparently most of the older generation had realized that this was not going to be a luxurious weekend and had opted to stay away. As one of the older generation, I did not really know most of the family. Most of the cousins were in the 20s and 30s, and they had brought their spouses and children with them,who were for the most part total strangers to me.

Friday night we cooked a hog and opened a few kegs of beer. Needless to say, most of the adults drank a little too much. As we turned in for the night, I could tell that sleep was going to be hard to come by because of the snoring from the crowd in the barn.

At about 2 a.m. I got off my cot and went outside and stretched out on a hammock hung between two trees a few hundred feet from the barn.