Maggie in Newfoundland Again 2016: Day 32 St. John's

Today is the day that this whole trip has been about – we start the Horan family reunion on the day that would have been Grammie’s and Grampie’s 95 wedding anniversary!

Festivities were not scheduled to start until 7:30 this evening but various families were assigned to various events and Grant and I were teamed with our cousins Catherine and Sharon for the gathering tonight. Grant and I made an early morning trip to Costco to pick up what we need and then, to pass the day, David and I took the kids out to Fort Amherst. The fort lies on the tip of the south side hills, across the narrows from Signal Hill. The walk offers exceptional views of the Battery and the colourful houses that cling to the rocks there. As we hung out at the point we saw a number of whales just off the coast and Mary-Katherine was thrilled. Her hope was to see whales while she was here and once again, Newfoundland does not disappoint!

In the afternoon while everyone here had a nap, I went to my cousin Sharon’s house to help her get ready for the party tonight. Although she lives in the middle of the city on a beautiful property in a beautiful city house, she has chickens! Our first job is to make chicken salad with her fresh eggs! We reconnect from a long spell of exclusively Facebook connection and work happily together to create a party for the gang.

We meet tonight at 7:30 in the parking lot of Sharon’s medical building. It’s a short walk to Belvedere Cemetery from there. The reunion officially begins tonight at the Horan plot at Grammie’s and Grampie’s gravesite. The parking lot is a great hugging, kissing mess and everyone is enveloped - those that are “new” to the family (various in-laws and children) and those who now live elsewhere (like me!) are welcomed in the fold. On our short walk to the cemetery, Mary-Katherine, passed around from hug to hug in meeting, already admits that she is overwhelmed with keeping everyone straight! She also says that it’s a bit weird to stand with a group of people you don’t really know who all look so familiar! There is no denying the Horan family resemblance that runs through the group!

My cousin Cathy orchestrated the festivities here. Now that may seem like an odd word to use, but truly, that is what they were - festivities. We all had roses to place on the grave to honour our grandparents, but that may be where the standard graveside ritual ended! With a nod to our Irish roots, there were recitations and Irish blessings. Grampie Horan was a lover of London Dock, an overproof dark rum. I have very vivid memories of Grampie downing his shot of London Dock straight from a silver shot glass and coughing, “Good stuff my pet, good stuff” before taking a little sip of his Pepsi chaser! In honour of Grampie’s tradition, one of my cousins produces a sleeve of shot glasses and a bottle of London Dock! We all offer a toast to Grampie and Grammie with my Aunt Bernice (at 90!! – who walked up to the hill to the graveside, over the uneven ground, without so much as a hand at her arm – praying those are the genes I inherited!!) adding, “May we all be half an hour in heaven before the devil knows we’re dead!” Such a unique, yet superbly fitting tribute to the couple who are responsible for this brood!

We slipped out quickly to go back with Sharon to be ready to welcome all to the celebration at her house. As people gather it is truly wonderful to realize that this is the “family reunion” of old. There is a comfort and familiarity in being together that the years has not erased. There is the affection, the boisterous laughter, the intimate connection and the love that makes family and is such a huge part of who I am, and who we have created in our children. As I look at aging faces (although honestly in most cases shockingly little transformed, those good genes I tell you!) you realize that time has passed but in some sense, little has changed!

Keeping an eye out for my children who really are among people they don’t know (especially Michelle since this isn’t even her family!) I realize that they are “working the room” and appear perfectly at ease. By the end of the evening they report they have had a great time and although they still claim they are having trouble keeping everyone straight, confirm that they feel “at home”!

We were the last people to leave, staying behind to help Sharon clean up! It’s a cleanup, a post mortem on the evening and a tour of old family pictures that my kids just love! What a wonderful feeling, to have anticipated something for so long and have the reality exceed expectations!