randy_byers | Not about 9/11

So I was wrong again. It was the fifth annual Roth family golf tournament, not the third. I just missed the first two, so I think of it as only three years old.

Other than flight delays in both directions, things went very well. I managed to follow the instructions Mom left for cooking the lasagne, as well as a few other errands and chores that needed doing around the house and in town while the golfers were on the course. Mom wasn't worn out by everything as she has been the past two years, so it's possible this will continue next year, despite Dad's concerned opposition. My cousins Dennis and Marvin really really really want this to continue. My brother pointed out that as family reunions go, it's a lot more real than the Roth family Christmas get-together (now held in summer), because we've all gotten more comfortable with each other in the past few years and thus feel more comfortable being ourselves (although this fortunately stops short of talking politics or religion). There's something about spending a whole weekend as a group and having several meals together that seems to create a stronger bond.

There were two more babies this year, as well as a two-year-old and a one-year-old, and another of my cousin's kids is pregnant. We had four generations in the house again, and those babies even give someone as uninterested in children as me a feeling that life goes on. Those two well-loved little girls running around with happy grins on their faces even made me feel pretty good about the prospect. The one-year-old, Brooklyn (!), even decided she wanted to be held by me for a bit, obviously not recognizing my grinchness. She threw her arms up in the air, demanding to be picked up. Well, melt my heart, sweetie!

I'm really not sure why the Roth family is so close, except that people like my Mom and Dennis work very hard to make it so. Much as at Worldcon, I was given a role and a sense of belonging to the tribe. It's a pretty good thing for an old loner like me. Although I have to say that too many of the bastards are Oregon State Beavers fans. It's a proud and lonely thing to follow the University of Oregon Ducks in this family. Quack quack quack!