It was time for a family reunion.
Every five years, aunts, uncles and cousins flew or drove from around the United States to meet for a family reunion.
I never planned one. That was my aunts’ jobs, and I had no interest in it. However, I didn’t think a family reunion at the beach was such a good idea, especially in the middle of summer. The location they chose had plenty of shade, but we really needed a place for infants and toddlers to nap and for the more fragile family members to keep cool. After all, this was going to be an all day thing. Unbeknownst to me, my aunts had a great idea. My aunts had rented a huge tent with portable air conditioning. I thought it was a great idea!. The children and adults could have all the fun in the sun they wanted and have a place to sit and cool off. Those people like my grandparents who didn’t care for the beach and just wanted to visit could do so in their chairs in air conditioned comfort. And fussy infants and toddlers had a cool air conditioned place to take a nap. And then it rained. And with the rain came the humidity, but everyone had a place to sit in the cool air conditioned comfort of the tent. Another great thing is that we had brought a picnic and barbecue and bugs don’t like air conditioning. We all had a cool air conditioned low bug place to enjoy our food. My aunts made a good decision to rent that air conditioned tent. I should have had more faith in them.