A Blast from my Past

from Lexi Eddings...

A couple of weeks ago we made a trip to northern Iowa to celebrate my sister-in-law's 30th anniversary of her ordination. It was like a mini-reunion for my DH's side of the family. He got to see 4 of his 7 siblings, and lots of nieces and nephews and their assorted children. There were four generations of my S-I-L's family in attendance, her kids, their kids & their kid's kids. Keeping track of who went with whom was a task of Herculean proportions.

You couldn't tell the players without a program. 

But it was fun to see them all, some for the very first time.

I know you're not supposed to have favorites but I couldn't help being impressed by my great-nephew Ben. He's an active, fun-loving sixteen year old from California. 

Not only is he a dog magnet--that's my grand-dog Tiny Lu in the little carrier--but all his younger cousins adored him. They followed him like a flock of imprinted ducklings, down to the park, to the pool, anywhere Ben went was the cool place to be. 

And he seemed to love hanging out with them too, which was oh, so wonderful for those younger kids. 

He reminded me of my dear Uncle Rick, whom we lost to cancer a few years ago. Rick was seven years older than me, so when I was a kid, he was the epitome of cool. An Eagle scout, a football player, he even had the lead in his high school musical, in my eyes, Uncle Rick could do no wrong. 

Like Ben, he never seemed to mind having his little nieces clinging to him. He took us to the movies, the park, the corner grocery for treats. Even when his friends--who also seemed incredibly cool to us--were around, he never made us feel we were a bother.  

My sister Cindy and I used to love to wake him early in the morning by pulling off his socks and tickling his feet. One morning he was ready for us. He had put on six pairs the night before. We had a dickens of a time getting them off while he lay there playing possum and trying not to laugh. 

Uncle Rick was the best. 

I'm so glad his spirit of tolerance and good fun toward his "youngers" lives on in my great-nephew Ben.