The Family

July 7, 2007 -- T and I got a late start, of course. After packing all our stuff, finding a luggage cart thingy, and loading up the car, we ended up leaving about an hour after we had hoped. (Nobody who knows me is surprised by this.) There was a ton of traffic on the Atlantic City Expressway (or the ACX if you want to sound like your from Jersey), as well as a few accidents. Luckily for us, the traffic was much worse going the other way.

As we drove through Philly, I had to deal with some mixed emotions. I love Philly, so it was very nice to be driving through and seeing some of the old familiar sights. The hard part was driving through without stopping at Geno's Steaks. As far as I can recall, this was the first time since moving away from the East Coast that I have been in the Philly area and not stopped at Geno's. (It's on 9th and Passyunk, if anyone is interested.) Every time I have flown into PHL to visit family, I have stopped at Geno's. (Onions, Peppers, and Provolone is my usual, although I sometimes go with Whiz instead of Provolone.) For the uninitiated, Geno's is the best place on Earth to buy an authentic Philly Cheese Steak. Every time Monday Night Football is in Philly, they cut away to Geno's before or after a commercial break. Presidents, mayors, athletes, beauty queens, singers, actors, and Tony Danza have all eaten at Geno's. There is another place nearby, Pat's, where one could feasibly get a cheese steak, but I'm not really sure why you would. Generally, you are either a Pat's person or a Geno's person. I'm a Geno's person, largely due to the fact that my big brother Tank is a Geno's person.

Back to the story: We made it to Nockamixon State Park by early afternoon -- a few hours behind, but with plenty of time to enjoy some family time. I think the attendance was somewhere in the 70s. We are hoping that the next reunion will double in size. (I have a pretty large family.) We are trying to revive a tradition of regular reunions that ended about 25 years ago.

So, I announced T's and my engagement on the web the night before the reunion. I never called any family members. So when we showed up at the reunion, only a few people knew the news. So there was a little bit of a deer-in-the-headlights moment as my family swarmed around Theresa. I felt a little bad for her, as she doesn't really like to be the center of attention, but I think the same thing would have happened whether or not my family had advanced notice.

Theresa had already met most of my immediate family, so there were only about 60 relatives there that she didn't know. (Actually there were about 25 relatives there that I didn't know.) We had a great time enjoying a nice day, talking with long-lost cousins, playing wiffle ball, looking at old photos, and watching the younger generation play games.

After our nice long day of reconnecting, we headed north to Pike County.