"and that reminded me of a joke" - Uncle Calvin

At 11:00am on last Thursday morning I thought I would be enjoying a nice weekend of productivity and warm weather. By 11:30 I had just gotten a plane ticket to Alaska that left 5 hours later. Within the next two hours I frantically did a small load of laundry, made the classic packing checklist, secured a ride to the airport, packed and left. Hello Alaska. Goodbye productivity and warm weather.

I got to come up for the Smith family reunion (my mom's side of the family). My grandpa had 20,000 frequent flyer miles that he graciously gave me in order for me to come up. And I'm so glad I took them. I have met lots of family members that I never knew (never knew existed for that matter) and met some really great and always strange people. It's not really fair because I can't effectively tell you about what my family is like. But imagine a group of jokesters, storytellers and pun-masters who all have an opinion (whether they know anything on the topic or not) and aren't afraid to share it. It's a crazy but fun, often bizarre time. If I ever need to introduce someone to the Smith family there is no better opportunity than the Smith family talent show. (A staple of our family reunions) It consisted half the time of great uncle Calvin randomly wandering up front to tell some confusing story that usually ended up being a joke of some kind, a segment where different groups randomly started singing their home state songs as a competition, ear-wiggling, cheerleading, a rap about rock climbing, and of course the group that ran up singing "row-row-row-your-boat" and "five little monkeys sitting on the bed" all while running around randomly. Plus much more. Anyway total family immersion, it would be simultaneously amazing and mind-blowing for a casual non-Smith observer. But definitely a good time.

Well now the reunion is officially over though there are plenty of people still here. I head home tomorrow back to the normal world. It's too bad, I'll miss the crazy Smiths.