In large part, we were back home last week to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. My mom and her siblings rented out the Great House in Galesburg on Saturday afternoon and hundreds of people stopped by to give their best wishes to a couple who has been together six decades.
After the party, there were a bunch of us at the farm--all the kids and grandkids who were back, some second cousins and plenty of other people I didn't know. (That's what happens when you have such a huge extended family.) We were eating fried chicken, playing bocce, and Uncle Dave even opened wine from their own grapes for a toast. Talk about fun.
Sometime in the early evening, Grandma had a bit of a spell and lost consciousness for a bit. At the time, we weren't sure if it was a stroke, a seizure, or something minor. The tone of the party immediately went from spirited to subdued. Fortunately, my cousin Jake, an ER doctor in St. Louis, was on hand, and he took control of the situation. A group of bumbling idiots from the local volunteer fire department arrived, followed by an ambulance. Grandma headed off to the ER with my grandpa, two uncles, and her personal ER doc, of course!
Fortunately, everything checked out well at the hospital (chalk it up to a lot of excitement without enough to eat or drink) and Grandma came back home just in time to give Matt and Janine a gift at their surprise baby shower. It was quite a homecoming.
We had plenty of laughs about how Grandma was probably in the hospital telling the doctors if they'd just give her some aloe vera and a frozen silver dollar (her home remedy for everything) she'd be fine. Jokes about clean underwear, Grandma's funeral, and the volunteer EMTs were abundant. Laughter through tears is a powerful emotion, and this is one family that can find humor in everything.
The whole episode brought a sense of urgency to these rare family gatherings with a quiet reminder that we need to appreciate what and who we have as much as possible. After we were all back together around 9:00 that night, more than 30 of us (including Grandma and Grandpa!) sat outside around a bonfire until nearly midnight, enjoying each other's company and silently wondering when the next time would present itself that we could all be together again.
1 comment:
I couldn't have said it better myself. There is something that family provides that surpasses all else. Getting in touch with reality as we did this weekend keeps us all on the right track. We are so smart for celebrating good times and not waiting around for bad things to happen before we get together. Kudos goes out to all those, including family members, who made the day so special for mom and dad. All funeral comments aside, at least we were able to celebrate another Shragal milestone. There were over 100 of my relatives that were represented at the Open House. Wow! And.......we're still partying.
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