An Ordinary Reunion

As always (except in 2020, which, how many times have we all said that in the past year?) we attended the Ordinary family reunion. This year was the 95th Annual Ordinary Reunion. Last year would have been the 95th, had we had the reunion last year.

Alas, Covid.

Anyway! Things are getting better, people are vaccinated, and we gathered, hugged and probably passed all kinds of germs back and forth. Olivia and I both have some sort of cold, so take that for what’s it’s worth.

The reunion is A Thing to Tom’s family. I mean, it’s fine and fun and I’m glad it’s just once a year. But the Ordinarys take it pretty seriously. They have a committee and everything. For several years (like…seven? Twelve? I don’t even know.) Tom was the president of the reunion committee. His youngest sister is the hospitality crew. Okay, she’s not the entire crew. That would be weird. No, her husband (who once ‘not all men’d me on FB and I almost unfriended him but instead just unfollowed and all is well because of that) is the rest of her crew.

Tom’s other sister, the one with terminal cancer, is the secretary of the reunion committee. Her daughter is the treasurer. At the reunion, L, the current secretary said we needed to vote in a new secretary because she might not be at the next reunion. Sigh. I mean, talk about sad thoughts.

But the reunion must go on and so names were tossed around. L tried to suggest I take on the secretarial role.

I meekly declined, saying softly that I thought that perhaps the job should go to someone who had not married into the Ordinary family. I mean, hell, I’ll use any excuse I can to get out of it.

One of the oldest Ordinary sisters suggested another woman, and that woman declared, “I’m very unreliable.”

And that, folks, is going to be my new go to when someone asks me to do something I don’t want to do. I will simply state, “I’m very unreliable.”

And I will leave it at that. No further explanations necessary.

Okay, unreliable lady did further explain that she suffers from chronic pain and so spends about 18 hours in bed. Which is sad and I’m sorry for her. But I kind of wish she’d just left it at, “I’m very unreliable.”

The treasurer ended up taking the job of secretary, which is very big of her. I’m proud of her as she navigates the world right now. I mean, she lost her wife last August, her mom is currently considered terminal, life just kind of sucks and she’s keeping her head up and trying to find joy in the world. We should all be more like her instead of bitching about corn on the cob.

Late that evening I asked Tom what all the secretary has to do because he was talking about how the treasurer doesn’t actually have a lot of responsibility except, you know, money, which?!?

The secretary’s responsibilities are: -Take notes during the reunion meeting (have I mentioned that after everyone eats, they (we) all sit around and everyone shares what’s happened in their family over the previous year. Yeah, so taking notes during that would be fun, right? -Keep a book of addresses each year, passing around a notebook for everyone to sign in and write down if their address or phone number has changed. Sure, that’s great fun too, nagging everyone to sign the book, since people are awful about that kind of thing. -Reserve the pavilion in which the reunion is held. You know how much I love calling people and doing shit like that? Yeah, not at all, right? -Create the yearly letter that goes out sometime in late May or early June reminding everyone that the reunion is the second Sunday in July, like it has been for 95 years. -Mail out said letter to everyone in the address book you keep.

Yeah, I’m taking a hard pass at all of the above. I don’t do that for my family of origin, why would I do it for the family I married into? Just because I spawned a couple of Ordinarys doesn’t mean I want to take on the responsibility of them seeing their extended family every July. Nope. Leave that to the next generation, is what I suggested. I told Alyssa her time as president is coming.

She deadpanned, “I’m very unreliable.”