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Our family just returned from my husband’s family reunion. It’s always the weekend following Father’s Day, but the location changes on a yearly basis.

We gather each year to renew our family ties and meet the newest additions. It is also a time to remember those who are no longer with us.

Our reunions include not only Heyls, but also the blended families of remarried siblings. We all have a great time, and we have become one big family.

If I have had doubts about the need for these once-a-year gatherings, they were laid to rest when Matt, the child of my husband’s brother’s second wife said, “Aunt Viv, let’s not wait so long to get-together again.”

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I grew up, the only girl of three children. I have an older and younger brother. I don’t want to say I never did “girlie” things, because I did. I had my share of Barbie dolls, a white canopy bed with a pink bedspread and canopy and lots of makeup and fingernail polish. However, most of my time was spent playing baseball, football, basketball, climbing trees, fishing, etc. I wanted to do what my brothers were doing.

Now, I’m married and have two boys. I’m the only female in my home. Even the dog is male. I have, however, been blessed with five nieces.

When they come over they head right to the makeup and fingernail polish and want to give Aunt Angie a makeover. You can bet that I have every color of fingernail polish and every bit of makeup I have in my house on by the time they leave. A lot of the time, I will also be sporting a new hairstyle of random ponytails and hair clips

I love my nieces very much, and I wouldn’t trade my time with them for anything.

BUT, at the end of the day – I would rather be fishing or playing catch than painting fingernails or fixing hair. God certainly knew what he was doing when he gave me boys!
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