Minneapolis 2026 - A Family Reunion

 My nephew's child was graduating from high school so we used the opportunity to meet in Minneapolis, where he, his wife and the graduate live, for a family reunion. I flew up from Chicago, using air miles we had been collecting, my brother and sister in law, niece, her husband, I guess he would be my nephew in law, and their 2 small children, a boy 3 and the newest addition to the family, a little girl 6 months, flew in from Seattle, where they live in close proximity to one another and my other nephew came in from Fresno California. We, the travelers, stayed in a spacious AirBnb about 4 blocks from my nephew.  It was a houseful.

One reason I was attending, was, even though they are too young to form long term memories yet, I don't want to become a mythic uncle. Although I might not be able to,  going forward, see them very often, I would at least like them to have an inkling of who I am and what I look like. 

I was in a small, fully booked, regional plane. There were a few traveling musicians I met at the gate, the gentleman across the aisle was wearing a straw cowboy hat, which was even more unsuited to air travel than my straw trilby. A tall, rather handsome, true ginger was was seated in front of me while the woman I shared the row with napped the entire flight with a scarf thrown over her face. I feared she might suffocate, that would be awkward. 

It was beginning to rain as we took off. I looked out the window at the forest preserves that surround much of the area around O'hare through the mist the rain created. As we climbed everything on the ground was soon replaced by the cotton candy clouds. 

Before we boarded my husband sent me photos of our cat misbehaving. He does not engage in such antics with me, he knows he can get away with all sorts of misdeeds with my husband. It is sometimes like leaving two 7 year olds together. I shuddered thinking about the wreckage I would return to.