Let’s Get Together Soon

May 9, 2008

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“Let’s get together soon.” I can’t even remember how many times I’ve said this to family and friends with all good intentions of actually getting together. And then we don’t. Has this ever happened to you?

This week some of those vague promises of “getting together” have turned into wonderful reality. For instance, I spent several days visiting with my cousin who came in from Bermuda and stayed with me. He’s my age and we spent some great time together talking about the trials and tribulations of our respective journeys through midlife. We talked, laughed and gave each other lots of cousin-ly advice. After all the times we promised to get together soon, we finally did.

And today, I had lunch with a new friend, someone I’ve known for years and have gotten to know better over the past year. She’s about to make the major midlife transition of retiring. We talked about the things she wants to do in this next phase of midlife and we compared our lists of 100 things about each other. It was surreal how many things we have in common–both eldest children, same personality type and myriad of other things. We have been promising to get together soon. And what fun we had when we did.

Tomorrow I have to attend a family funeral. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to funerals where I say to family and friends that we should get together on happy occasions not just the sad ones. And we all stand around and agree that we will “get together soon”. And then we don’t.

We used to depend on the our older generation of parents, aunts and uncles to make the fun family gatherings happen. With many of them now gone, it’s up to the midlife cousins to arrange the happy times together. So I commit here in this post to help plan a picnic this summer where several generations of cousins can come together for an event that’s not shrouded in grief. It doesn’t have to be fancy and complicated. Our family picnics never were. It just has to be an opportunity for us to get together soon.

And this time I believe we will.

Posted by Karen | Filed Under Celebration, Family and Friends, Latest Blog 

Comments

4 Responses to “Let’s Get Together Soon”

  1. b on May 27th, 2008 11:46 am

    In addition to planning mini lunches with long lost
    friends/relatives, I’m also following up on those suggestions made by others to ‘get together someday soon’.

    This summer, a ‘Cousins Reunion’ is in the works for my family of origin - planned by yours truly.
    Sadly, the elders are fading fast. Surviving that generation, there are 10 of us cuzzies, scattered not too far or wide, with only one out-of-state at this time. However, even those who live close-by don’t get together - and we all enjoy one another! So what gives, right?

    Thanks for your post: now I have even more incentive to make the
    Cousins Reunion happen. We were thinking of a restaurant event, but your idea of a picnic sounds like even more fun!

    P.S. Love your blog. (BTW, I also mention the Beatles quite regularly on mine! Fab Four 4-ever!)

  2. Karen on May 27th, 2008 10:13 pm

    B–The “cousins reunion” is a great idea!! My cousins and I keep talking about getting together but it’s hard I think, in part, because we have memories of how it used to be with the loved ones who are now gone. And we live close too and don’t get together. But reframing it as for the cousins gives it a whole new perspective. Sounds like you taking responsibility for making it happen is a key factor. I’ll take a lesson !! And after I finish here for the night I’m off to see what you say about the Beatles. Who was your favorite? Karen

  3. b on May 27th, 2008 11:29 pm

    K ~
    Sorry to use space here on the ‘Let’s Get Together’ post to answer your Beatle’s query, but here t’is:
    At age 13, my fave Beatle was Paul (such a cutie!). As I got older, I found George most intriguing. One reason I married my husband was because he had a ‘uni-brow’ like George (oh such shallowness!). When I got even older, John represented my angst, rebelliousness and fight against the system(s). Now that I’m well into middle-age, Mellow Ringo is my man (did you happen to catch his HBO special?).
    ~ b
    *BTW, thanks so much for checking out my blog…
    *I trust we’ll both meet with success re: our organization of those reunions.

  4. Karen on May 28th, 2008 6:48 pm

    b–Paul was so wholesome and cute. I always thought George was almost mystical and handsome. Can’t believe you found a George look-a-like to marry! And John was always anti-establishment. Are we still fighting the system? I have yet to really connect with Ringo–will watch for his special to come around again. Had fun on your blog and will be back to visit. Karen

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