Down Home Reunion

Our family of nine kids and a wonderful mom and dad was the beginning of a clan that stretches across Canada. The core group however stayed in Cape Breton or returned after a stint in upper or lower Canada. Four of the family live in close proximity to our old home or cottage. Two boys and two girls call Cape Breton home and live close to the sea and the family roots. I make a yearly pilgrimage to the East and we always manage a family gathering.

It is not very formal or structured but after a few calls everyone who is available descend on the host or hostess with food and stories. We are not a family who over the years invaded the private space of each other but come an occasion to get together the attendance record is sterling. Our numbers have gone down and as all aging families they will decrease even more in the future. While we are able we make an effort to keep in touch and support each other when the need occurs.Our family ranges in age from 80 to 57 so by any standard we are a middle age family.

I love the contact with my brothers and sisters and to share their joy at the birth of another nephew or niece or grand children. It is the children who are the main attraction at our gatherings. They provide the energy to keep the traditions alive and to bring fresh arguments to our stale conversations. Every year we have to face life and death in our family and the family bond helps us through both.

Our third generation is the new strength and from what I see we will be well represented in the future with keen minds and bodies. Our family have been contributors for the most point, having chosen the humanities for their life's work. Education and public service heads the list and I am proud of that. Our parents made sure every one of us had a start in life with at least a year of post secondary education. That was an achievement in itself but the fact that all are gainfully employed and always have been so speaks loads of the work ethic instilled in all of us from a young age by our parents.

My journey to Cape Breton is over for this year but I left the Island feeling confident that all is well back home and I look forward to our next visit sometime in the future.