We Are Family

I wasn't particularly excited about our grand "clan" reunion.  Of course, I have fond black-and-white memories of summer bonding with cousins.  Make that lots and lots of cousins.  But the way two recent reunions ended somehow soured me to the idea.  After civil warlike quarrels broke out over such a petty thing as a Christmas star, I kinda believed that there are reunions that are better on paper.  Or online.  Or anywhere that don't require the "reuniters" to be physically present.

Last month's clan reunion had me bridging the great divide.  It was great to have the cousins around.  We have all grown of course, and it was hilarious to see ourselves now taking on the roles of our parents.  After the remember-whens and the almost endless sream of the little girls and boys that reminded us of who we once were, we had fun picking up where we left off.  In most cases, the transit point was the night of Lolo's funeral, when we took up the entire balcony of the moviehouse to catch the final screening of a Nino Muhlach movie.

With 20 children from three marriages, Lolo certainly was no RH advocate.  (The second wife, in fact, died two days after giving birth to Baby Number Twelve, and can very well be a case in point for the pro RH bloc..) The Dados have then gone forth and multiplied, and the recent reunion was proof of the clan's exponential growth.  Yay! We actually had to wear name tags and come in color-coded shirts to keep up with the parade of great and great-great grandkids

In true clan fashion, the almost weeklong reunion was NOT uneventful.  Youngest Uncle's First Wife showed up, and for a while we thought there would be an action scene between her and Recent Wife.  An "undocumented" cousin also made a guest appearance: he--and the rest of us--knew of his paternal roots only recently, thus his non-inclusion in the directory.

In all, it was a happy affair.  Tita T led the immortal LA Walk, the kids had fun running around and getting to know their cousins, and there was juicy chismis all around.  (If you knew how to mine, of course. :p)  The catfights were left for another day, and the present warriors were kinda civil.  Mini reunions have since been staged and the warring factions are at each other's throats once more.


No matter. Families are families, huh?