Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005 1:15 am
Reunion 2005
This will be remembered as the year of the flood, though, and that was a sad story. As I went toward Comanche I passed the gates of our family home. This house was built 150 years ago and is still in the family and has been restored to its original (sort of) condition. It is a true work of historical art. The family that owns it was having a 150th birthday party for the house this year. They always open it up on reunion weekend for everyone to come by and marvel that our great-great-great grandparents lived there and raised TWELVE children in those few small rooms. As I drove by, I saw a sign on the gate that said the party had been moved to the reunion grounds up the road. Well, that made no sense. Have a party for the house, but not have it at the house?
We came to find out however, that there had been a flood on Wednesday of last week that could have destroyed everything. Our first indication of the flood was when we pulled into the reunion grounds. There are many many huge old trees that have been there for hundreds of years. Many pecans and oaks. As I pulled in, there in front of me was a huge oak on its side with the roots pulled out of the ground. Obviously, it had just fallen this week because the greenery was still there. Then we began to hear the stories of the homeplace...
On Wednesday morning, the couple that live in a house beside the homeplace and serve as the grounds and house caretakers, woke up to find water in the hallway of their house. Before they could even get out of the house, the water was rising, by some accounts it was to their shoulders before they got out. They got out (in their pajamas) just before the walls collapsed from the water. They made their way up to the homeplace, which, fortunately, remained above the flood line, and were able to call for help and get clothes there. Their cars were in a carport and were floating around, bumping the sides of the carport. A pickup floated down the creek and was found wrapped around a tree more than a mile away with their couch underneath it.
The rescue teams from the area came in and, sadly, ruined a lot of the grounds with their four-wheel drive vehicles. The property had a beautiful lawn and it was destroyed. Two people in the Comanche community were killed in the floods, so our friends, the caretakers, were incredibly fortunate to escape. This all happened about 7 a.m. so it easily could have washed them away before they woke up.
So that was the talk of the reunion, but we were happy just to visit with our kin. Our branch (of the twelve children) had 19 attendees this year, which is a record for us! Just when we think the family is dwindling and no one is coming to the reunion, we have a really good turnout. My cousins and aunt from Amarillo were here for my cousin's graduation with this MS from Baylor so they all came by.
We made our trek to the cemetery and the church and school. This year I remembered flowers for the graves. I was so glad I finally did that. I still want to do a better job next year and get Confederate flags for some of our graves. The Sons of the Confederacy there decorate the graves on Memorial Day, but those flags were already faded and tattered.
While we were at the cemetery a little puppy came bounding up. It was deja vu all over again. Eleven years ago was when we found Lucky in the cemetery in Winters on our way to the reunion. Here I am in another cemetery at the reunion and an abandoned puppy comes up. He was at least part Dachsund and was really cute and personable. My sister and I drove over to this great house that is nearby. No one was home, but we put the dog in their yard anyway. They had two other Dachsunds that were barking a lot at us, but not so much at this dog, so they seemed to know him. I figured better that a new surprise dog pop up in their yard than to lose a puppy and not know what happened to him. I'm sure he'll be fine.
We had lots of barbeque and conversation through the evening. The Amarillo bunch moved on pretty quickly because they had to get further down the road and they had already had a long day.
My sister and I called it a night before too long and went up to our room at a bed and breakfast in town. This was my first time there and it beat the cheap utilitarian motel all to pieces! I have already made a reservation for next year. Sis and I drank wine and watched SNL and some of the Cowboy game and laughed a lot. It was fun.
We were up early Sunday morning. I was up WAY early when I couldn't sleep at 5 a.m. If I had been alone I might have gone ahead and gotten up and gone to help cook the breakfast. Since I was with her, I tried to sleep until the alarm went off.
Breakfast is the highlight of the reunion, for me. Fabulous chicken fried steak and eggs cooked over a campfire. The gravy wasn't so great this year, a little thin, but okay.
I spent the morning talking to people and inputting information into the computer. I met some wonderful people that had come from all over the country for the reunion. And I met several from here in Austin that I want to get together with again. One cousin's friend had heard me talking about the reunion on the radio and excitedly came to tell him that "that girl on the radio is in your family!"
Last year I snuck out of the reunion during the meeting. This year I wished I could have stayed a lot longer. I had to get back to Austin for some work. One of my co-workers had a death in the family so I had to cover a remote for him. And it adds to my pocketbook so I'm not complaining. I came back to town just in time to do the remote. Beautiful drive through that country up there. I just feel this overwhelming need to buy land there or live there.
Last night I mostly recuperated. Today I'm trying to send some pictures out and write the reunion report for the family members that weren't there. I haven't gotten that done yet, and will put it off until tomorrow.