It’s been a whirlwind month for the Weizeorick collective. In September, we had Sisters’ Weekend, a wedding, and Dad’s 90th birthday party. We also lost Dad’s wife, Liz, and her daughters held a nice memorial for her. It was a lot of getting together. It was sad, happy, hugs, and busy. I’ll be happy not to do that drive around Lake Michigan for a couple weeks. Is 80/94 ever going to be just open, without construction? At some point, isn’t it constructed, as in past tense? Ah, that’s a topic for another time.

A couple weekends back, it was Dad’s 90th. What an amazing time. We actually watched the video from his 80th, because nobody had time to make a new one, with all the family gatherings. Dad hasn’t aged in a decade! The picture used as his headshot for his 80th could have been taken yesterday. Yet, in the last 10 years, he met his second wife, Liz, married, and lost her. A mini-lifetime in a decade. All twelve of Dad’s kids were there. Most of the spouses were there. A lot of the grandkids were there, with spouses and kids (if they have them). It was a rowdy, boisterous group. Travis even brought his guitar and the entire set-up, which, of course, ended up as live karaoke with dancing. Who doesn’t want a rowdy karaoke on their birthday? It was as if Dad was the center of a swirling vortex of activity… so, pretty much normal in our clan. It came with mishaps, the restaurant lost our catering order…whoops (thanks to Catherine and Chris for saving the day!). But mostly, it was perfectly chaotic. 

So, Dad, who grew up in a normal family with three kids, in a middle class row home in Philadelphia (those are now hot commodities and quite trendy, I hear), somehow ended up in Chicago with 12 kids, 36 grandkids, and 25 (and counting) great grandkids. His east coast accent has faded into a midwestern one, with a few mispronounced words that trailed along. Somewhere along the line, he even fixed his pronunciation of the word water (it’s not wooder, as my east coast family says it). 

So, we travelled down the years, as little kids became big kids, grand kids became grown grandkids with kids of their own. I came to realize that this rough and tumble, rowdy crew has been my rudder in life. We had little extra money and hand-me-down clothes, but we had fun. And we will continue to have fun. I imagine that the next decade will bring many changes, some amazing, some sad, but this is the crew with whom I travel. 

I will need to construct some more family blogs, but for now, here are some pictures of the gathering. Have a great week everyone! If it’s not going great, love it anyway. We don’t get to stay here forever.