Today was the Donelson family reunion. We had an unexpectedly good turnout. It was our 80th annual reunion, held as always, at the park in the small town of Jeromesville, Ohio, where Everyone brings a dish and near the end of lunch we have everyone introduce themselves, the President (me this year) gives the financial update and makes sure the paperwork and address lists are updated. I also always have a craft table set up for the kids - this year they made foamie eyeglasses and foamie doorknob hangers.

The reunion event always begins with one of the elders saying grace, thanking God for our family and asking that we remember those no longer with us, while encouraging us to instill in our young people the importance of tradition and keeping family ties strong.

You say, "Boy, that sounds REALLY old-fashioned!" It is, but I have to say as a liberal agnostic like me - refreshingly so. The reunion day was my grandma Donelson's favorite day of the year - more than Christmas. Every year, on the first warm day in March she would say "Wow, it's getting warm! It must almost be time for the reunion!," though she knew full-well that the reunion is always the second Sunday in August, quite a ways from March. And when I was younger - a teenager through my 20's - I would BEG my parents not to make me go. I realized as I got older how much it meant to family members of her generation that the grandchildren attend and participate. After grandma died in 2004 I felt the best way I could continue to honor her was attend the family reunion, announce during the introductions that she was my grandmother and how much the reunion meant to her, and try to set an example for my cousins who are 21 and 23 years younger than me. When the reunion's over my parents and I drive down the street to the cemetery and water plants on grandma's, and other relative's, graves.

Unfortunately, it was also the hottest day of the summer so far! 91! I got a touch of heatstroke and as soon as I got home the migraine hit and I started throwing up. So, I've already called off for work tomorrow.