Family ties

This past weekend, my siblings and I celebrated our parents' 50th wedding anniversary by meeting at a lake house with just our spouses--something we had never done before.  Seriously:  we have not all been together--just us, without kids and extended family--until we started leaving home.  Let me just say, it was a great idea.

For one thing, look at this amazing deck overlooking the Texas hill country.  For another thing, look how relaxed everyone is!  We sat out on this deck for hours, talking and laughing.  I hadn't seen my brother act out a story since he was a little boy.  Thirty-plus years later, he's still hilarious.  

My mom and dad brought their wedding album and old family photos and photos from our growing-up years and we sat at the table and talked about our memories-- at least some of them actually happened, I think!  People have been asking me how the weekend turned out and I guess I'd have to say that the most telling moment was at the end, when we all stood around and agreed that we would like to do it again and more often.