Had an awesome weekend!!

This past weekend couldn't have been any better, even if I had tried.  Had the Dalton Relatives & Family Reunion on Saturday... and was surprised to find out that one of my relatives is seriously tracing our heritage all the way back to the Original Dalton Gang.(Best of luck to ya Lisa)  It will be a while before all the materials come together for viewing, but will be fascinating to read I am sure!  I love history, even though I failed US History my Sophomore year of high school (had to retake it in Summer School & passed, so...YAY ME), but mostly I love looking at old pictures and hearing the stories behind them all.  Thankfully, one of my distant cousins on my mom's side of the family had created several discs of old photos completely set up with awesome background music.  {KUDOS to Lindsey} 

They brought back some great memories & some sad feelings for all of the loved ones that we have lost over the years.  We are a close-knit supportive family, a large & very LOUD family, although we don't get to see each other but once a year, if that often, we know how to have fun every time that we gather.  I was also pleased to see the 'other' set of twins in the family were able to show up this year, I hadn't seen them since they were like 6 years old & now they are in their 20's.

This year we made the decision that this would be the last year that we would be having a home-cooked dinner together, that next year instead, the suggestion had been made to just do hamburgers & hot dogs for everyone, so that no one had to worry about hauling all those dishes from so far away.  Everyone agreed that was a good idea, as well as to keep it here in the Yadkinville area, instead of moving it back to the Asheboro or Randleman areas!  They all said that they only came for one reason anyways....  that was for our side of the families DESSERTS (i.e.- the cakes)!!!  I told y'all they were the best in the world, nobody can beat our cakes, each one made with love... at least mine always are, he he!

As with any family get-together, there are always a few who are unable to attend due to conflicting schedules with work or whatever else is going on in their busy lives.  But at least we enjoyed our times together, missed the ones who didn't show up & will hopefully see them all again next year. 

I just loved hearing my mother, while standing in the buffet line, ask the young guy in front of her, "Who's husband are you or who's son are you??"  Only to find out that he was a friend of one of her cousin's kids.  Mom had seemed to have taken on the tradition of ring-leader of the group now, being the oldest daughter and all, she practically raised all her siblings as if they were her own children anyways.  Becoming the mother hen, if you will, to rally the troops for 'We're gonna say the Blessing before we eat now' prayer was made.  While I was in the kitchen, doing some last-minute food prep for the late arrival of my aunt (who always has to make her 'entrance'), I still knew when I heard the silence coming from the great hall... that it was my time to bow my head & listen along in silence for that ever-so-famous line to be said at the end.... after 'AMEN', ..."Let's EAT!!!".  Of course, my sister-in-law & myself were at the end of that long line to get to the food.  But it was all well worth the wait to get our turn at those tasty viddles.  And as always, we saw the other side of the family make a straight bee-line towards the desserts table to get first dibs at our famous cakes, before they even sat down to start eating the actual cooked food.  Ya gotta love family and their crazy quirks, wouldn't trade 'em for nothing in the world.

After the stuffing of the faces, there was that ever-so familiar congregating at each table with other relatives to remember all the past reunions & to speak of lost loved ones.  To just sit back and relax after over filling our tummies to the points of bursting at the seams, literally.  Then came the clean-up and the saying good-byes & fond farewells to everyone, as each person had to make the long journey back to their own homes.  It was a good day & I believe fun times were had by all.

Sunday afternoon brought my family together for a family portrait, the first one in over 10 or 11 years.  They will be ready for pick-up on this Friday (my birthday).  Can't wait to see how they turned out... my parents told the photographer that me, my brother and his wife, were all their children.  In which my sister-in-law pointed out later, that that would make her married to her own brother then.  We all got a good chuckle out of that one, while we enjoyed our traditional Sunday dinner together at the local steak house/ buffet restaurant.  Then I went back to my brother's house to watch two movies that they had rented for the night.  Now I am sitting here, just a few minutes shy of midnight, finishing up this post... happy & proud to have had such an exciting weekend surrounded by the people that mean more to me than anything else.... MY FAMILY.

Intro

A little intro into the world of "E-Rockers"...  a 36 year old single male on the edge of my 37th birthday in just a few short weeks.  I've always been a fan of writing my thoughts and ideas down, mom said I always preferred pen & papers over any toy you could ever give me.  But as I grew older, I became a fan of typing... so much that I would rather be put on a medieval torture rack than have to write with a pen or pencil in my hand these days (mainly due to the agony of arthritis from years and years of working in a textile factory).

This will be a new adventure into discovering the true writer/ novelist hidden deep within me.  As I put my thoughts, fantasies, dreams, torments & rants about everyday life into words, from growing up in a big family to living in a small town.  Hopefully, the words will come easy to write as I have always been better at writing out what I think opposed to talking (super-shy).  For years, I have been able to talk to anyone online in those little chat rooms, to even texting along with the best of them.  But when it came to being out in a crowd & having to say more than 2 words...  AGONY!!  I could never think of the right words that I wanted to spit out of my mouth or barely put a declarative sentence together to fit into any conversation before the topic had been changed and the group had moved onto another discussion.  It took me years before I could even sit in public at a restaurant, without the fear of everyone watching me while I sat there with my back to the wall, face downwards at my plate, eating.  Knowing that they were all staring at my every move, paranoid that I had a spaghetti noodle stuck to my chin or ketchup stains on my shirt. There is a word for that kind of behavior... but that is all in the past....  BREAKING OUTTA MY SHELL HERE NOW!!

I hope that these entries will be helpful or inspiring to any and all my readers in some way or another.  Because I have always believed deep in my heart that everything happens for a reason, every person we come in contact with on a daily basis happens for a reason...  You never know who's life you are about to change, just giving them a smile, or by saying 'Hello' to someone, or by throwing your nose up in the air and walking past them as if they never existed.  Because every life is important, every thing you do & every word you say is important, ya never know what it could do to someone else & could change their life forever.  I hope that I can make the slightest difference & someday maybe even be remembered in the history books for something that I might have said or done.  And who knows, it could come from this blog & might even answer my hypothetical question, "How do I get there from here?"