Saturday, July 14, 2012

Gathering the Generations

I cannot get it together to write blogs when the action is fresh. Just can't do it. Someone is either climbing up my back to get at the computer keys, or I'm shampooing excrement from the dog's wild party the night before. Life is not romantic most of the time, and it's hard to find time to blog. But I want to, I really do.

So we spent last week up in the mountains of Pennsylvania with the majority of my extended Hartshorne family, and what a joy it was. Even my aging grandparents joined us at our rental palace for a few days at the glorious Eagles Mere lake. Our trip far surpassed my expectations, and those of most of the family as well. I just kept blurting out "I can't believe what a great time I'm having!" and other cheesy lines, unable to control my enthusiasm for the family bonding.

And bond we did.

Our family has never been the lawn games/charades/relay race type, but somehow in this 1950's time warp of a town we became just that. Each night one family member would make dinner for the rest, someone else would take their turn and the rest would enjoy the sumptuous meal prepared for them. Then after dinner the kids would decide which game would be fun, and we'd all somehow agree that we wanted to play, gather around in the big living room or out on the lawn and play for hours, old cavorting with young without the barrier of electronics impinging on our fun. We spent the days on the beach of the lake; swimming, sailing, diving off the dock, and calling each other on the rotary phone when it was time for dinner. Every so often an announcement would come over the loud speaker "Wiffleball on the back lawn at 1:30!" and all the kids would run off towards which ever fun activity was next. Fan-freaking-tastic.

My children did not once ask for television or computers, they got to know the great-grandparents who have only been on the outskirts of their lives thusfar, and I was lucky to connect with my younger cousins who have grown into talented, lovely people.

It's amazing how easy it is to avoid spending time together these days. We all agreed that we'll be heading back to Eagles Mere next year to ensure that our connections last.

File:Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania.jpg