My Big Fat Family

Every five years, we have a family reunion in San Antonio and we take a big group picture. Sounds pretty typical, until you get into the numbers. I remember when I saw "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and Toula said she had 27 first cousins alone. I said to myself... WUSSY. There are 61 of us (including myself) who are first cousins. And, since my mom and her sister married my dad and his brother in a double wedding, I have 10 first cousins who are related to me both on my mother's side AND my father's side. Of course, this family reunion was only my dad's side, so 19 of my first cousins on my mom's side weren't there. But about 300 people were. These are descendants of my grandfather and his two brothers, and my grandmother and her two sisters. That's a whole lotta lovin' goin' on. The sheer numbers may lead you to believe we are Catholic, and you would be right, so the stereotype doesn't offend me at all.

One of my cousins just got married in Vegas (the rebel!) and had an open house reception over the holiday so that everyone would be in town to wish them well. I love this when a poor hapless outsider gets introduced to my family. That greek wedding movie may have seemed corny, but it was very real for me. We are of Lebanese descent and are very much like the Greeks -- some of the food is very similar. And quite delicious. So we are ethnic and loud, love to eat, multiply in abundance, and get mistaken for Italians. Most of the men and women look like they could be cast in The Sopranos. The young groom and his mother got to be present for the panoramic photo shoot complete with bleachers and color-coded t-shirts. It was hard to tell if their wild-eyed look was bewilderment or fear. We took the photo outside of our church where a big section of the parking lot was taped off (I say "our church" because my family built it, thank you very much). At the reception, the mother didn't say much except for "I have one cousin". Poor baby.

So the reunion was on Thanksgiving and the wedding reception was on Friday. Well, on Saturday, one of my aunts and her husband celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Their eleven children threw quite a party.

We drove back to Rowlett (just east of Dallas) on Sunday evening. Damn, things sure are quiet over here...