Family Talk

Today came the e-mail that announces the details of our family's annual reunion. Each year, a family member picks a Sunday in June for a picnic. We arrive from all over the Midwest, Colorado, California, and elsewhere to our hometown in Central Illinois. The afternoon is spent catching up on each others' lives over fried chicken, potato salad, and (if we're feeling especially brave in a public park !) a couple bottles of beer.

The month of June is chosen in honor of Grandma Kelly - the family matriarch of our Irish clan who used to organize these get-togethers. The tradition began in the 1970's and some of my fondest childhood memories reside there. Those Sundays always began by accompanying Grandma Kelly to 7:30 A.M. Mass and heading straight to the park afterwards. There we would reserve half a dozen picnic tables under the elms and maples. Wide stretches of grass held ball diamonds and swingsets and the promise of day-long games of tag, frisbee, or water balloon fights. Those Sunday memories still bloom today when I pass a park full of kids - with grandparents gathered at picnic tables watching over their own families.

Today, e-mail is such a simple and cost-effective way to notify family members across the country about up-coming events. In days past, the best option was the telephone, but timing was a problem. With no answering machines, you had to catch the person at home. With so many people spread out across so many time-zones, this was a challenge. An e-mail works much better. If e-mails and answering machines disappeared tomorrow, then I'm afraid the old way would be even harder still. Today's schedules are more frantic than ever. Who in the hell would have the time and patience to make those calls ?

Besides someone like Grandma Kelly ?