Time for me to get ready; going to a family reunion today. To see people I see at best, once a year. (There was a time when a lot more people would have been there, a time when we saw each other a lot more often, but the older generations, the ones who had the closest ties to each other, have passed on, and most of the younger generations have moved away.) I am always nervous in social situations, especially without a nice buffer to place me within a setting of people among them (like if my Brother and his family lived close enough to go to this get together; or if my Nana and Pop were still alive. Then I would feel snug and cloistered, feeling connected to the people that connect me to these other people) but still it is really good to them. To keep some connection with my Nana's people. We are all connected in one way or another...we are family.

And Cheese, who is always resistant to such gatherings ( and to any sort of leaving the house on Saturday and Sunday. "Today is my day OFF! I should not have to go anywhere.") seems okay about it, as he has categorized this get together in his mind under Chichen fingers with mustard sauce, chips, soda, and desserts. I know this because he keeps asking, "Now this place we are going on Saturday, this is the fried chicken fingers with mustard sauce place?" Me- "Yes" Cheese shakes his head and says, "Okay." God help us if they have changed the food they have ordered to serve this year. My son will look at me like he has been tricked, evilly misled...not by his own expectaions, but by me. And with an indignant tone that will keep asking me to conjur some up out of the air.