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Reunion | |
August 06th, 2018 | |
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This past weekend I went to the Tomasino family reunion in Ohio. | |
It was good to see my sister and her family, and to run into all | |
the other relatives that I haven't seen since I was my son's age. | |
It was nice for him to experience a reunion as well. He doesn't | |
see anyone but my wife and I most of the time since we don't live | |
near any of our family and soon will be moving much further away. | |
I like to say that my sister inherited all the roots and I got all | |
the wanderlust. My parents and their parents all grew up in | |
Youngstown, Ohio, where our immegrant ancestors all settled. They | |
were fruitful and multiplied and most of the brood has remained | |
fairly close to that nexus. When my parents married they moved | |
away chasing work leading to my sister and I being born in | |
Virginia. We lived there briefly and then a few years in Maryland | |
before heading to New Jersey where we both completed high school. | |
That was enough for my Sister. She went to college back in | |
Youngstown and never left again. All the years growing up she | |
talked about going "back" and she didn't hesitate. | |
I took the other approach. Growing up away from extended family, | |
I learned to love the move. After high school I did a brief stint | |
in college before joining the Navy. I moved a lot in the service, | |
and then a lot more afterwards. After college #2 and grad school, | |
the moves continued. I've managed to live in 15 states now, and | |
I'm thrilled to get out of the United States finally. | |
On the one hand, I think I can thank my sister for my own freedom | |
of place. She is an anchor in the family that allows me to float | |
free. While we were in Ohio I spent a few days in her company | |
wandering Youngstown, Austintown, Struthers, and Lowellville. In | |
every single place we stopped, be it restaurant or school or | |
grocery or playground, we met someone that knew her well enough to | |
stop by and talk. She is so entwined with the place it is a part | |
of her and she of it. My brother-in-law functions in the same way. | |
His family owns so much local farm-land and have roots so far back | |
it doesn't make sense. He is an engineer who built this or that as | |
we drove around, and who coaches this team and that team, or | |
helped review the building plans for this guy's daughter's shop. | |
It's a fascinating life they have, and I'm so happy they get to | |
have it. | |
That sort of thing may not appeal to me personally but I can see | |
the glamour in it and the comfort it can provide. I have no | |
argument against it. It's just not for everyone. | |
She and my brother-in-law talk about how exciting it will be for | |
my family to go abroad, but how they could never do it. I see why, | |
and it isn't sad at all. We have chosen vastly different paths and | |
both are thrilling in their own way. | |
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At the reunion itself we had a few fun surprises: | |
- My neice found out her science partner in school last year was | |
actually her long lost cousin. If I have my math right, they're | |
4th cousin's once removed, but it is a little tricky... | |
- My great, great grandfather was married twice. The daughter | |
from his first marriage married the brother of his second wife. | |
Go ahead and unpack that a little while. I'll wait. | |
- My cousin is the production manager for Hamilton on Broadway! | |
- My 98 year old grandpa has been listening to the same GE radio | |
for 50 years. It still works perfectly. Ridiculous. | |
- I'm related to pretty much the entire town of Lowellville, | |
Ohio. Here's a video from the 30s and 40s of the town | |
celebrating a wedding in the 30s and the Feast of Our Lady of | |
Mt Carmel (July 16th, 1946)[0]. I watched this with my grandpa | |
and he named pretty much everyone in here at a glance. The guy | |
with the suave hair at 13:13 is my great uncle, my grandpa's | |
brother. He was a funny guy. | |
[0] Lowellville Ohio | |
- The best part of the parade is the Baby Doll Dance [1] | |
[1] Baby Doll Dance |