My mom got together a family reunion this weekend, and I actually enjoyed it. I got to catch up with some cousins I haven't seen in forever and was told my hair is cute and that I was "brave" for cutting it. I wasn't sure if that meant "Wow, you're brave to go out in public like that" or "Wow, I wish I could be that fabulous and daring but mostly fabulous." It definately has to be the second one.

Some of the time there was a little awkward. I don't always know how to talk to people I haven't seen in years. So, for a while I totally wimped out and followed my parents around. Then I found some cousins I knew but hadn't seen in a while and hung out with them. We had each other laughing really hard pretty quick, so I was happy. It became a running joke between me and my cousin's wife that my dog was really my very hairy child, apparently born out of wedlock. Had us giggling for much of the day.

It was neat to see people who remembered me from when I was tiny. "I didn't know who you were at first, and then I saw those eyes! How could I forget those eyes?" Another one remembered me by my smile. Lovely things to hear. Lots of hugs and "We should get together sometime to catch up" and "It's been so good to see you!" I was amazed at how well it went off. I'm still "Little Rachel" to a lot of them, but maybe if I can find some more things to talk about, I can break that image.

Toward the end of the day, I was talking with one of my mom's cousins, and she had her grandaughter with her. The granddaughter got away from her and there were various places she could fall and concuss herself. (The kid was still in diapers, and not the steadiest, but she could still book it.) Anyway, so I wander after the kid (grandma couldn't keep up anymore) and I become nominated as the kid's babysitter for the remainder of the evening.

So, the kid and I sit together for a bit as I'm talking to my uncle and my mom's cousin. Rocking when holding a baby is a habit I picked up from my folks, so I'm swaying in my seat with the kid and she falls asleep pretty quickly. Someone walked past, looked at the sleeping kid and said, "Wow, you're good." I had just been goofing off with my cousin's wife so I was still feeling silly and I wanted to respond with "It's the boobs. Nobody can resist their power." but I wasn't sure if it was an appropriate comment to make there, so I just said "It's the timing. She was tired."

Eventually, almost all the relatives commented on the child sleeping on me. "We're going to start calling you Madonna" (as in Mary in those paintings of her and Jesus as a baby, not the pop icon) or "It's good practice for you!" or "You look good with a baby." They were nice things to say, but I have the feeling it was gentle encouragement on their part for me to get my butt in gear and settle down already. I have neither a man in my life nor offspring; I am obviously far far behind.

But, cynacism aside, it was a sweet baby and it was nice to rock her to sleep, and then when she woke up and freaked out because she didn't know me I sang her a lullaby and she calmed down.

Anyway, there was more to the reunion than gooshy stuff like that. A number of the relatives brought their dogs, so that became a topic. I was talking to my cousin's wife about the universal truth that is dogs licking themselves. I said that our dog always licks himself after something startles or scares him, like he's thinking, "You still there? Last time something big happened, I lost your friends. Now it's just you and me, little buddy. I hope we're together forever." I think I shocked my cousin's wife a little, she didn't expect to hear me joke about something like that. But she got over it and laughed pretty hard.

Good times. I mean, yeah, it had it's share of little family drama's, but that's to be expected. I got to talk to the relatives I really wanted to, and reconnected with my cousin, my mom's nephew. His house burned down earlier this year and he and his wife and kids have been living in a camper since then. It's changed their perspective on how important family is, and I was really touched to see how happy they were to see us. And when they left, their 8 year-old daughter and I had a hugging contest to see who could hug tighter. Kid almost popped my head off. Love-inspired decapitation has got to be the best way to end an evening.