History in the making

I'm learning a lot these days about family, history and heritage. Remember that family party I mentioned earlier? Well, it was much more than just cake and balloons. Today I learned that there's a whole lot that was done in years past to put me where I am today. And there's a whole lot more people in my family than I realized!

Today we went to the Fillon Family Reunion at a little white church not far from where we live. But what looked like an old, tiny building on the outside turned out to be busting at the seams with memories made over 30 years ago. This was the church that my great grandpa Fillon built, where Nana & Papa were married, where Dad went every Sunday when he was my age (and apparently acted naughty so he could leave to get some french fries...some things never change, I guess).

From what I heard today, the building itself hasn't changed much at all. Everyone remembers it being bigger, but I think that's just cuz they were smaller. Everyone had a twinkle in their eye as they looked around at the windows, which apparently were cause for controversy at the time they were put in, but now seem to represent so much more than just windows (Wow, I can be a pretty deep guy on occasion).

Each of the family members who attended this church got up to say a few words about their memories (I got to go up to, but I decided to let Papa do the talking). Listening to everyone speak, I realized that it's really important to remember where you come from because it seems like it has a lot to do with where you're going. I paid close attention because I've got a lot of "going" to do. I also listened closely to the stories about my Dad because it sounds like he was pretty sharp from the get go. I'm thinking I'll try that crawling under the pews trick at church tomorrow morning.

I also got to meet cousins of mine that I had only heard about. I tried to get Mom to let me run around with them, but she kept saying I was still too little. Who's she kidding? I think I'd fit right in with these guys.

Now I'm not sure if this has anything to do with heritage or not, but there was this odd part of the day when Auntie Rose painted my foot yellow and then made me stand on a bunch of T-shirts. Maybe you can help me, has this ever happened in your family? Does this sound normal? Wait, nevermind, our family is far from normal.

Anyhow, Mom said today was another one of those days that will be even more important to me as I get older. I guess I'll have to wait and see what she means. I asked her when we were going to have a reunion for her side of the family and she said something I didn't understand...something about not being sure if I wanted to open up that can of worms. Who said anything about worms? Sometimes it's like Mom speaks a different language.


Yet again, I kicked off the weekend with a very full Saturday. Now if you'll excuse me...