Twenty years ago, when Dad was diagnosed with leukemia, my
siblings and I had long since left the nest and had scattered all over the
country. With an eye on time, we didn’t want to waste any of the precious
moments we had left with him, so we booked a couple houses on the Outer Banks in
North Carolina and experienced our first family reunion. The beach in Destin
followed two summers later and we converged on the gulf shores of Alabama a few
years after that.
Since then, we’ve kept up the tradition, gathering every
other summer in various locations across the country like the mountains in New
Hampshire or Utah’s Lake Powel. Sadly, we lost Dad several years ago and Mom
has since followed. Our beloved brother, Tim, joined them in heaven three
springs ago. 
But my parents’ legacy to us all is the abiding love they left behind. My sibs and I still get together as often as possible. Every
time we do, the time apart drops away beneath the laughter and fellowship of
people with diverse lives who genuinely like each other.
This summer was no
different, although we were missing a few faces as we gathered this past week in Branson, MO. We spent the days racing across the lake on tubes, eating too much and sipping adult beverages as the next generation got to know their cousins a little better. As usual, our time together passed too quickly. This
morning, we said our teary-eyed goodbyes and went on our separate ways. I’m literally on the road travelling home at the moment, rejuvenated by the time spent with my sisters and
brothers, nieces and nephews and all the grands that have sprouted throughout
the family, and already looking forward to the next time we’ll be together —
which will include a wedding. Congratulate me. I’m getting a new
daughter-in-law!
More on that later, but for now, what about you? Have you
and your families discovered the joy of reunions and what locations do you like
to visit when you gather?
When Mac isn’t spending
time with her beloved family, she stays busy weaving HEAs for her characters,
like the latest in her Players series, Wyatt and Piper from TO WIN HER SMILE,
now available via KensingtonBooks
