{"id":10851,"date":"2015-07-29T15:28:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T22:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=10851"},"modified":"2015-07-29T21:48:02","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T04:48:02","slug":"reunion-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2015\/07\/29\/reunion-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Reunion Values"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Reunion-2015-650\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are 15 of the 16, all in action all the time.<\/h6>\n

We do this every two years, and not at Christmas. Not anymore. Although we did do a \u201cmini-Christmas-in-July\u201d for the kids\u2014with gifts and even a tree\u2014but that was just one of the events.<\/p>\n

It’s our family reunion, and this time it was in Kansas City, MO where our daughter Tamara lives. It was for five days with families coming in from Seattle, Palo Alto, Chicago and from here in Dana Point\/San Clemente.<\/p>\n

We do it to keep up. And to make sure the cousins know each other. We had outings and field trips and what with a nice pool in Tamara’s backyard, there was always something to do.<\/p>\n

For me, one of the great highlights is what we’ve come to call \u201cthe sharing.\u201d Every evening, once the children are fed and settled in with a video in another room, one couple takes a turn updating us on their lives.<\/p>\n

The questions were the same this year as in the past. What of significance has happened since we were together last? How has God been apparent in the life? And something positive about their spouse. That’s then followed with\u00a0response of\u00a0further questions, affirmations, and general good will.<\/p>\n

Of course, there’s lots of laughter or, when called for, lots of empathy.<\/p>\n

It’s a picture of a family, and as such, nothing’s perfect at any one time. A big one for us, of course, is the absence of Vernon. Allison was with us, as up beat as ever, and hopeful, but Vernon continues to languish (I can’t think of another word) in limbo (can’t think of another word for that either) in the care home he can’t leave.<\/p>\n

But that wasn’t to be the focus of this blog. Rather it’s an example of how life is, with neat parts and messy, joy and pain.<\/p>\n

The ongoing financial support of Allison by the rest of the family members is heartening for me. I look at it and say, \u201cThat’s how a family should operate.\u201d I’m grateful, even in the midst of the plight.<\/p>\n

I’m tempted to continue my rejoicing in the spread of talents and occupations among us. I even took a paper towel and wrote a list to share at our final time together. I think it was later used to wipe up a child’s mess, but included were the likes of:
\nScientists and artists
\nEntrepreneurs and managers
\nComputer wizards
\nDesigners
\nElectrical Engineers (one a PhD and another a candidate for same)
\nPhotographers (three professionals)
\nAn accountant\/comptroller
\nA pastor\/theologian
\nAll teachers, in one way or another
\nA model
\nAll great parents
\nGenerous and ready to serve
\nThinkers with heart<\/p>\n

There was more but, like I said, the towel went to other uses.<\/p>\n

Mainly, at least for me, it was \u201cvalues\u201d that we were celebrating, encouraging and affirming. All the rest is details. Details matter, and make each life unique. But if the values are there, and strong, then being a ditch digger is as good as the rest.<\/p>\n

So that’s what we do. We keep family alive, we help each other, we keep central things central . . . and of course we have a great deal of fun.<\/p>\n

Such should be every life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We gather to keep up, to celebrate progress, and affirm the important things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10851"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10869,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10851\/revisions\/10869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}