Vacation is Over

I have lots of rants waiting to be verbalized.

I did not intend for this Family-Reunion-that-didn't-happen-turned-Vacation-during-a-week-I-would-NOT-have-chosen-for-a-vacation to be so negative. I did experience some good things.

I had not written about the Family Reunion on this site, but I did write about it on my Myspace Page. I even posted photos of the campsites, cute images of luggage atop cars captioned with "See You There!!!" I had a counter that counted down the days until the first day of the reunion, June 30th.

This Family Reunion was a big deal because, for the most part, my family has been estranged for many years, particularly since my father's death in 1992. I am the oldest of five children, all of whom are female. I do not have brothers. From next oldest, 59-yr-old lives in San Diego somewhere. The last time I tried to reach her, the telephone number was disconnected. 57-yr old... well, I have no idea where she is. I've heard Alabama, Las Vegas, Carson City. I honestly have no idea. 55-yr-old lives in the Las Vegas area. 54-yr-old lives on the east coast.

54-yr-old found me on Myspace. We hadn't communicated at all since my mother's death in 2003, but several months after she made contact with me, she suggested a family reunion. We started planning November 2006. We picked a week during the summer we thought everyone could be available. She checked with family members (sisters, their spouses or significant others, their children, etc.)and we decided on a central location. She sent out the flyer and invitations. I reserved the camp sites and we prepaid our site. She said we could expect about 30 people, but as the July grew closer, the list dwindled and by May we were down to our family and her family.

The only people who showed up were Tom (my husband) and me and our youngest son, Chris, and his family.

The good news is everyone, especially the grandkids, had plenty of boat, ski and wakeboard time.

The bad news is I am more angry with my family than I have ever been. And I am so angry with myself for being taken in... again. Tom tried to warn me about a month before.

"What are you going to do if this doesn't come off?"

"Why wouldn't it come off?"

"You know your family. That is what they do and you... we... always get left holding the bag."

"54-yr-old seems sincere. Besides she is planning most of it and she is the primary contact. At least she will be there and so will her kids."

Seven days before the reunion, 54-yr-old (the originator, the planner, the RSVP contact person) cancelled. Couldn't afford it, she said. Seven days before the reunion, she hadn't even purchased her airline tickets (....hmmmmm). However, they could afford to rent a house on the beach in North Carolina for a week during the same week (hmmmmmm....). Six days before the reunion, all three of her grown children cancelled. No one else cancelled because no one else was coming.