A relatively good Easter weekend

From Friday through Sunday we enjoyed seeing, eating and visiting with 17 relatives to celebrate the birthday of one grandson, Easter and spring. Some came from a short distance, some from farther away and some live nearby all of the time. We weren't with each other all of that time, but we saw most of them several times and a few for the entire weekend. I kept remembering similar weekends several generations back where we were the visiting family to our parents at the Wayside.

Often when some of my siblings and their families came from another state to visit our parents we would want to join them at the Wayside. Of course that made quite a crowd because most of my siblings had several children near our children's age and older. We would come over from Stockton, down from Archie or Butler, depending on where we were living at the time. There was usually one meal out at a restaurant when we had those large gatherings, but the rest of the meals we ate at the Wayside.

This weekend, I was lazy and we had two meals in a restaurant with various of the 17 relatives, and one meal with our daughter-in-law who lives between our home and The Wayside. Our great grandson-in-law and our great-granddaughter, who were visiting us, cooked one of the meals here at our house. If you count the number of meals in a three-day weekend, you can see that I didn't actually "cook" any meal. But in spite of that, I was pretty tired when everyone was back in their own homes and it was just Lester and me here at home.

So I began trying to remember how my mother seemed to be at those earlier gatherings. I can't remember her ever seeming to be tired. She often had a habit of deep breathing (some could call it sighing) when she was bustling around in the kitchen. I realize now that could easily have been a sign that she was tired.

After supper in the evenings when we were all sitting around either playing games or just talking, my father would often just go upstairs and go to bed. During the day I remember him sitting out in the lawn a lot. But my mother would not go up to bed. When we offered her the opportunity she would reply that she didn't want to miss anything.

My older sisters were always very good at helping cook and we always did the dishes, changed the beds and did that sort of thing to help. But I realize now that just the change of routines, and the energy used in visiting and keeping your mouth shut about advice can make you tired. Planning ahead can also sap your strength even before anyone arrives.

Where will they all sleep? Are there enough clean towels to last the weekend? Are there some diet restrictions I don't know about? Will I have time to get the Easter things hidden before they all wake up? Is there something else I should be worrying about that I haven't thought of?

I am not sure if Mama had this type of worries or not. She didn't seem to have been worried, but I doubt if I showed my concerns ahead of time either. We all just took it for granted that she would be happy for us all to pile in with the others who had come from a distance.

Sometimes there was an aunt or two in the mix also. We all wanted to see each other and the visiting family didn't have time to detour over to Lebanon where the other Missouri Gray lived or to our ever changing home sites. The Wayside and the folks were the magnets that drew us all.

One thing I think I can be sure of is that Mama would have been as happy as I was when some of the family want to come home. I'm sure also that even if she was very tired when we left she relished the memories of the visit long after we had all departed, just as I do. It would be, or would have been for her, worse if no one ever wanted to come visit, or who felt ill at ease after they arrived.

Now I'm looking forward to a one-day visit from my sister, Ellen, and her daughter, Ruth. We will all try to get together to greet them next Sunday, and probably will all be talking about plans for the big reunion in July where between 90 and 100 of our closest relatives will be coming for another three-day weekend.