Family

On June 25, just a couple days after I got home from Spain, Scott and I loaded up the Mercedes, and headed up to Em-Te Town for the Hancock family reunion. I can't deny I was really excited! I had been looking forward to the day since the last one 6 years ago! The date for the reunion was perfect for me since it would be a great opportunity to see everyone all together after being away for so long!

We got there around 7 (we took a long time actually getting out of town...) and there were quite a few people there already. Scott pulled the "Merc" into the parking area that was full of mud since it had been raining all day, and after we got our sweaters and bug spray on we started the weekend off with lots of hugs and hellos.  

Wendy and I had talked about making a tree/chart of the family to help us young ones out with the names of all of our family members, and so she made one up that was all color coded and organized! Well, by the end of the weekend I really felt like I had mastered that thing! I finally understood who all the kids belonged to, who their grandparents were, and most importantly, how Scott was related to everyone! It was incredibly helpful, and I need to keep it safe for the next reunion! 

Over the weekend we sang around campfires, played games together, shared stories, caught up on the 6 years that had passed, and just had an all 'round great time. It felt great to be surrounded by amazing people, who I can fortunately call my family! 

That brings me to what I really wanted to write about in this blog (this one's deep!!)...

Over the past year and a half, or since I turned 20, I feel like there has been a huge change in the way I interact with my family members. When I say family, I mean extended family, not just my mom, dad and Scott. More so my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. What I've noticed is that I am now so much more interested in getting to know them as people, and not just as "aunt", "uncle".. whoever. Instead I want to know about their past, hear their stories, know their personality. 

One of my favorite times that this happened was in Spain, when Scott, Wendy and Bernice came to visit. They got a flat tire on their last full day in Miranda, and couldn't get it fixed until about 6pm. By then it was way too late for them to go to San Sebastian as they had planned, so instead we went on a little dinner night to Haro, a town just about 30km from Miranda. It's a gorgeous town with a tiny little center full of pintxo bars on skinny winding streets. On weekends it's always really busy and people flood out onto the streets to drink their cortos and crianzas. I was really excited to be there with them and we had a great time trying different foods. At the end of the night we headed over to a cafe in the plaza and had a café a la crema, which is a small coffee made with steamed cream and a shot of espresso (not so figure friendly, but is de-lish!) While we were there, Bernice shared a bunch of stories about Scott and Wendy and also about how her and Mac met, about their travels, etc. I was so, so happy just listening and soaking it all in. I feel like these days with internet and cell phones and people moving all over, people are losing real face to face communication, losing the chance to tell stories and share memories. Well that night I loaded up on stories to tell to my kids, and grandkids! 

I'm 21 now, and I feel more grown-up, more in control of what is important to me. This year I've decided to make family more important. I want to know my family members better as people, share stories, and make memories.