Relative Insanity

A description of my massive extended family once prompted a friend of mine to ask, "Are you from a family of circus people?"

And after attending a reunion in Pennsylvania this past weekend, I would answer that in one word:

"Better."

Better because in our family, we have a little of everything. (Except Mexicans. We have a lot of those.)

Of the 90 or so people who attended this reunion (this is my mom's side of the family and she is one of nine kids), we had the following: an undertaker, an RN, a rocket scientist, Harley guys, a mariachi band member, a Stanford professor, a toilet paper maker, a Google network security expert, an Army Lieutenant Colonel, a lawyer, a farmer, educators, stay at home moms, staunch Republicans, liberal Democrats, non-drinkers, heavy drinkers, one-legged Diabetics, two-legged Diabetics, religious people, atheists, artists, and centaurs (just seeing if you made it all the way through the list).

I should make some sort of profound statement about how our family is a microcosm of the world at large and that if a group this diverse gets along and loves each other then there is hope for all of us as a human race.

Or I could just quote my Aunt Marilyn and say, "we're big and weird."