This post is sponsored by Tide Pods but all thoughts and opinions belong to Still Dating My Spouse.
Over Memorial Day weekend, my family celebrated 50 years of reunions! 50 years!
My family started hosting family reunions Memorial Day weekend 1967. The reunions started in the front yard of my cousin Jimmy in Batesville, MS.
So it was really exciting and important that we went back to where it started for this momentous occasion.
Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. In the last 12 months, since our last reunion, our family has buried 3 family members, with the latest one being May 20 (one week before the reunion).
It’s so important that families spend time together laughing, talking, and learning their history.
When the Jones and Battle clan get together, you are guaranteed two things: you will eat the whole weekend and you will definitely laugh more than you would at a Kevin Hart comedy show.
This year, the reunion was threatened to be ruined due to the storms forecasted for that weekend. We did encounter some rain but we did not allow the mud to stop us.
My family reunions are three days, Friday- Sunday. We have a banquet, meet n greet and a picnic throughout the weekend.
The purpose of our reunions is to gather the family together yearly to connect, celebrate and congratulate family members!
On Friday, during the meet n greet, family members gather to get the reunion swag bags, agenda for the weekend and of course EAT!
This year, we had the banquet on Saturday. We all dress up and enjoy a catered meal + we recognize any accomplishments family members have had over the last year. We also take a moment of silence for those that are no longer with us.
On Sunday, we have a family picnic. This is the event where it is relaxed and purely a fun filled day. During the family picnic, there are plenty of fun games for us to participate in. It’s not uncommon for the guys to challenge the girls in kickball.
It’s all fun and games! We enjoy getting together and having fun.
The ground this year didn’t really corporate. It was wet and muddy. I took a nasty fall. I wasn’t hurt but I fell nonetheless. The only thing that helped was, the ladies WON!
I’m just thankful that Hampton Inn had an onsite laundry room for us to use & I didn’t have to go to Walmart to get Tide Pods. As y’all know, when we travel with the kids, I travel with Tide Pods so I can wash any clothes they may get extremely dirty. Oh but this time, it was me that got her clothes dirty.
I knew I didn’t need to leave my shirt stained until we got back to Memphis. Great thing, the laundry room was in the hotel. I just popped one pac in to get the stain out. When I first bought Tide PODS, my husband was doubtful that this little pac could work nearly as well as liquid or powder detergent. After one test wash, we were hooked and out went our old detergent! Plus, this has a stain remover and a color protector included, which means less products we need to use! This time though, I wasn’t sure even if the Tide POD could clean a load of laundry this soiled with dirt and mud! But it did…
Bonus: I didn’t have to worry about taking dirty clothes back up the highway.
Well, no need to focus on dirt, the weekend focus was family!
These are just a few of my family members.
There were over 200 family members in attendance this year! It’s a blessing that our family still get together after 50 years of reunions and to have that many still attending.
I’m the words of my cousin Gloria: 50 years of reunions truly speaks highly about a family. No matter how much we argue or fuss….at the end of the day, we’re family and we love each other unconditionally. This weekend has been truly a blessing to see the Jones & Battle reunite in Batesville, the city where our very first family reunion all started 50 long years ago. May God continue to help our family to uphold the tradition of another 50 years.
If you are not close to your family, mend the fences! A family is important.
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