anticipation

I am suddenly in contact with members of my family that I did not know existed.  I've had a few cousins tell me that they WANT to come to our reunion.  Yet, Ohio remains shut down in this pandemic.  Right now, our pavilion rental is cancelled.  I have not found a place that is open to hold our reunion.  Gatherings of more than 10 from differing households are banned, except for church, weddings, wedding receptions and funerals.  I want to meet these long lost family members.  I want to get to know them, learn more about our family.

The great joyful anticipation of growing our reunion to what it should be is dampened by this virus.  I am personally split between the joy of finding my relatives, building those connections and being able to share with each other and the sorrow of our very real situation.

At the same time, I'm realizing how many family artifacts we have in our possession.  A letter from 1946, a signature from 96 years ago, original documents of honorable discharge from the military, printed out e-mails, pictures that span more than 100 years.  And, of course, our book.  Preserving them for future generations is weighing on me.  Finding a way to share with all of our family is weighing on me.  Having a meeting (even if it's Zoom) would help because I could express the concerns and others could decide the priorities and help.