Finally the day I'd anticipated for months had arrived. We were going to the memorial for my wonderful loving Aunt Margie, my mother's sister and the last of the four MacRae siblings. She had lived to the age of 94 and been the glue that held the families together. Just ask her and you'd get lengthy stories about the various relatives in the family some quite extended but always right down to the latest baby born into the extended family. If only I'd recorded all those conversations so I could remember it all too, but I didn't and my poor memory has left me bereft. (below is a picture of Margie taken in 2014 on a visit with our daughter Bethany.)
BUT today we would see many of the family members including at least one sibling of three of four original siblings - Ruth's children weren't able to come because their father is in hospice in Florida and not expected to live much longer. Their focus was naturally on Bob and our thoughts were with them.
Laurie, Margies oldest daughter had organized a fabulous gathering at the little park next door to the Lake House that has been the Hannon family home for close to forty years. It sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie and is now a vacation home available for rent to families or groups that would like to enjoy some time together in this very scenic setting. (these two pictures below were taken in early summer)
Her two brothers Matthew and Tom were also busy helping get things all in place including putting up some great displays of Margie over the years with so many members of the family. (below is a picture of Margie with her three living children from left to right Tom, Laurie and Matt)
All three children birthed by my mother, Rosalind, who was the oldest of Margie's siblings were there: me along with my brothers Steve and David.
The next oldest sibling was Donald. His youngest daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Len, were there. Unfortunately because of the high winds and cold taking pictures was tough so what I have is the one below from a year ago when they visited with their youngest daughter, Allie.
I was extremely excited because all four of our children went to great lengths to make the journey as well. Janet flew in from Texas with her youngest Karsten, Sue along with her husband and two boys had to take a day off of teaching and school to drive up from North Carolina, Beth and her husband and two sons drove down from Michigan and Dan who came with his middle daughter Rachel drove over from Pennsylvania knowing he had to return home in time to preach the next day at his church. During a break in the weather we braved the wind to go out to the chairs sitting on the edge of the bluff to get these pictures of our family
Dan had the opportunity to finally meet his youngest nephew, Karsten, as the last time we were all together he was still three months from arriving. Rachel loved doing a bit of "babysitting" playing with Karsten and keeping him entertained while Janet talked with other members of extended family.
I got to see members of the Hannon (Ron's extended family) and Knoll (my grandmothers youngest sister's family) families as well as children and grandchildren of my cousins some of which came from California for the event. If I can, I'll add more pictures taken by Renee (daughter of one of Ron's brothers) who tried to gather a variety of the groups together as well as take a group shot) They just haven't come to me yet.
After everyone left, we helped clean up the tent and pavillion area and then we all gathered at the house for lots more conversation well into the night.
Followed by a little gathering in our motel room (the small motel by the park with only 6 rooms of which we used 5) so we could gather to celebrate Jason's 15th birthday. Course by then we'd eaten gobs of food and could care less about cake but it was still fun to have a few special minutes for him.
Early Sunday morning Sue, Tim, Jackson and Reilly were on the road back to North Carolina. Dan and Rachel had left after dinner time on Saturday night. Beth and her family along with Janet and Karsten stayed till it was time to clear out of the Wild Waves motel so they could enjoy a fabulous brunch primarily prepared by Sarah and Len though Beth had brought bagels for all and I had brought muffins and OJ plus the cream cheese for those fabulous New York bagels we all enjoy. Tom and April came with their son Phil, Becky (daughter of Margie's daughter who died many years ago), Laurie and her husband, Manuel and their daughter Elaine, Sarah and Len also joined us for the brunch. It was a great time to do more bonding together. Which we continued into the late hours of the day as the high winds continued, rain and hail fell and it got even colder such that in some areas around us it snowed including up in Huntington Woods, MI where Beth lives and nearby Cleveland, Ohio where some RVing friends of ours (Bob and Diane Moore) are camping. (We just thought is was spring!!!)
There was a bit of trauma as well during the weekend. When Ken started to get ready for bed he discovered only my passport in his shirt pocket. His was missing and we are due to leave very early Tuesday morning for Alaska and then cruise down to Vancouver. We had the kids checking their motel rooms, others looking all over the Lakehouse and Len and I using a big flashlight checking the tent and pavillion area as well as the grass in the vicinity although we knew that was futile since the strong winds would have taken away anything dropped outside a protected area. Then Sunday morning after Ken again spent over an hour retracing all his steps, he decided to drive back to Pennsylvania and check the RV to see if it was possibly left behind. It still was missing upon his return in the late afternoon and he'd called our cruising friend, Donna Rumrill, for advice on what we might do. The suggestion involved getting to the Federal buildings in downtown Detroit when they opened Monday and doing alot of begging and pleading. Just possibly if we were lucky they would get us a replacement before early Tuesday morning.
He was exhausted so returned to the motel for a bit of rest but couldn't do it without jumping up a couple of times to look in remote spots in the motel room. Then he flattened him self on the floor and looked under the bed. There, way far under lay the missing passport. Hooray, Praise the Lord and hallelujah, we were back on course - we could enjoy the rest of the day and have a new but happy story to add to our repetoir.
The other happening was Sue called about an hour after they left and just as Ken was pulling out to say she thought she left her purse in the motel room. Luckily she'd given us the key to turn in so I told Ken to wait and sure enough, there it was under towels thrown over a chair so covering it. They were able to pull off into a rest stop and wait for Ken to come and give it to them as he was traveling the same way to get to PA.
Len and Sarah, Ken and I stayed overnight Sunday into Monday so once again could enjoy more conversation around the table with Laurie, Manuel, Elaine, and Becky before more departing took place. I took advantage of the washer and dryer to wash the clothes we had used so far along with a bunch of used towels and sheets so beds would be ready for the first renters. Soon all that was left at the house was us finishing that job as Elaine and Becky had to get to the airport for their trip back to California. Just before they left I got a picture of them. (below is Laurie and Manuel with one of their four children, Elaine who is the youngest)
And here they are again with Becky joining them
Then, once our clothes were done, we too were off leaving lots of quiet behind as well as a gorgeous blue sky day, cool but filled with promise of much more warm weather again.
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