My family held a reunion, the first in five years at Dutch John Resort in Utah. I was told nearly all the cabins were rented out by family members from all the different branches. My cousin planed this one and for the first time that I know of picked the theme of a luau for the big party night. It was a six hour drive to get there from where I am, the first round we accidentally took a ultra backroads way trying to avoid the mudslides on I70. When we got there we were immediately greeted by a few of my cousins, aunt and uncle whom had arrived the previous day and then invited out rafting while mom kept an eye on my kid while she ran around with her baby cousins who had all instantly become best buddies.
When we finally got back to camp to settle in, we set up a tent next to mom’s in the cabin yard. We were the only ones to bring tents, everyone else either rented a cabin or had an rv. The bulk of the family had arrived by nightfall so I had to make the rounds to greet the ones I knew, there were others from Vegas and New Mexico I was much less familiar with that took more time for me to get conversational with.
The next day was luau and the cornhole tournament in the back of my grandma’s luxury cabin she was sharing with her sister . A large sign spelled out Aloha in the back and one of my cousins husband’s unveiled a project he had been working on, a massive foldout of our family tree that he then took Polaroids of all of us for its completion.
While it was a joy having everyone in this space having fun regardless of their beliefs there was a sadness knowing it would be the last time seeing some as age and health struggles tend to sneak up. I did my best to do my own documentation through pictures that I’ll send out later with Shutterfly.
My husband was even pleasantly suprised having expected a less hospitable environment with the political climate as it seems. He helped my aunt who is wheelchair bound by building up her shower chair and made his services readily available when someone needed help. I appreciated that.
Both nights after the sun went down the sky gave me a lightening show with all the light but none of the bite of thunder. Then around 12:30 coyotes would wander by, yipping on the fringes of camp. I may not have slept well but the experience was unique.