I never know exactly how to tell me people I’m going to my family reunion. It’s not the most common of occurrences, and it’s hard for people who live next door to their grandparents to understand. It sounds like some lame event your parents drag you to while you’re kicking a screaming, but for me, it’s not like that at all.

Every year my mom’s family picks a weekend in July to have our family reunion. We spend a Thursday through Monday eating, swimming, playing games and just talking at rented cabins on a lake. When I was much younger it was a day trip, but by the time I was school age it became a weekend vacation.

I would have never guessed I’d end up living only about an hour away from our yearly spot. My mom is from Mississippi, but over the years, the family spread out across the world. Having a reunion back in the state of Mississippi was an ideal common ground.

Earlier this week when I realized I was not going to be able to con the intern into working for me this weekend, I devised a plan to commute the hour long drive from our cabins to work in Vicksburg every day this weekend. Seems a bit crazy, but that’s how much my family means to me.

I’m an only child so my 10 cousins take the place of siblings, and their 18 children act as nieces and nephews. As the baby of the family I was thrilled when the big kids let me play Spoons with them on the back porch late into the night. As we got older I have been delighted to get to hold and play with their children. We might go to bed a little earlier than we use to, but we still spend our days in near constant laughter.

As my family has grown over the years we take up most of the cabins, and we visit a different one every day for a home cooked meal. A potluck lunch on Sunday is the actual reunion meal where we rent a room at the lodge. My mom’s cousins and their kids and grandkids are all invited but don’t always get to attend.

Now that all my cousins have children, their families are almost completely contained to Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, but unless someone gets married, we only see each other at Mississippi State football games and at the reunion.

As I sit here in my cabin, taking time away from my family to write this, I’m glad I get to reflect on the joy this weekend has brought me for as long as I can remember, and  I feel fortunate I was able to fit family time around my work schedule.  I can’t wait to sit here again next year, as the brood has undoubtedly grown again, and feel blessed. But for now, I’m going to eat some more casserole and watch the sun set on the water.