Hawk Mountain Reunion #1

Okay, so I’ve been kinda silent since Germany. My lame excuse for that is that I’ve not had anything reporting yet. Now this is no longer the case: I just came back from our weeklong Ebeling-Miller-Lee Family reunion on Hawk Mountain here in PA. It was wonderful, of course, but let me start at the beginning…

We all arrived, a few hours later than we had planned, at the beautiful bed and breakfast on Hawk Mountain. First thing (after hugs all around) was to unload the cars… I’m surprised they didn’t overturn considering all of the luggage we had stuffed into the trucks and piled into the car top carrier. Not only had we brought food for a couple of meals, cloths for a week and sports gear for free time, we also lugged half of our kitchen pots, pans, dishes and utensils along with us (although it was a bed and breakfast we didn’t ask for the meal service… meals were all up to us). Luckily, many hands made light work as all 26 of us (minus Andrew the baby who can’t walk yet) made several trips to the common room/kitchen. I found the facilities all to my liking; although there were only 2 burners in the kitchen and no oven, there was a large pool out back with a hammock, lawn chairs and pool toys which more than compensated for that small inconvenience. To add to its virtues, each of the 8 bedrooms were equipped with a private bathroom and a TV. Best of all, I didn’t have to sleep on the floor (which is generally the case in our family reunions); I got to share a bed with Rachel while only 10 of my younger cousins and siblings slept on the floor.

The initial excitement of exploration began to wear off, and it was time to conduct the opening ceremonies. First we had two birthday girls to recognize: Granny and Ellie. After a lusty Happy Birthday song, the winner of the writing contest was announced and awarded a lovely writing kit. Dad read his poem (a late entry and therefore not a candidate for the prize) to help inspire us to really live the theme in the coming reunion: “Rise Above It!”, and tee-shirts sporting 2 giraffes (of Granny’s design – she won the tee-shirt contest) and a “Rise Above It – Ebeling Family Reunion 2007 – Hawk Mountain” logo were distributed. The schedule was explained (wakeup time = 7:30am, followed by scripture study, with another devotional in the evening) with emphasis on the next day. Finally, we were released to relax and enjoy ourselves for the rest of the evening. Some of my braver relatives jumped into the freezing pool, but I was quite comfortable to sit at the poolside and snap pictures of their valor.

Aunt Heather and Uncle Brett put together a luscious “Tex-Mex” salad with beans, chicken, lettuce and spicy Ranch dressing which was quite good. Uncle Eric invited us to all come stargazing since it would be a very good night for it (low humidity, no moon, no clouds plus a meteor shower), so we all grabbed some sweaters, tarps and blankets, piled in the car and drove off to find a field. I was a little apprehensive when my Dad turned into a random field, and I probably had a right to be… Dad said he went to talk to the farmers just as they were getting in a truck to come down and kick us out. When they heard we just wanted to watch the stars, they said we could use the field as long as we didn’t step on the alfalfa that was growing there. Skirting the crunchy plants we made our way up the hill, spread our tarps on the ground and lay gazing at the sky. I prepared myself to be disappointed; I’m not usually lucky enough to glimpse those magic moments of light streaking across the deep blackness of the sky. Gasps, oooo’s and awww’s penetrated the darkness, and I consoled Felecia when we both missed some of the evanescent marvels. Surprisingly, luck was with me and I witnessed 7 falling stars. Just as we were all getting ready to leave we saw the best star of the night – a trail of fire ripping through the veil of night, which then disappeared as all magic must. Back in my cozy room at the B&B I had decided to wait up for Rachel my cousin who was coming after her performance in Upper Darby (she was to arrive at about midnight), but alack, at 12 she was not there, and my weary eyes closed.

Sunday morning dawned, and my brother was up bright and early (about 7:30am) to greet it. Keeping my eyes open at a bare minimum I noticed Rachel had joined me in the night. When it couldn’t be put off any longer I struggled out of bed and dressed for church. Cereal stilled my growling stomach, but during breakfast I learned of some startling accidents that had happened while I was in my blissful state of unconscious sleep. Aunt Rene’ had twisted her ankle badly as she was coming down the stairs and was now hardly able to walk. Heather had fallen down 3 stairs and had toes that were quite black and blue as well. Uncle Eric went into town for a bandage and some pain medicine; when the owner of the B&B heard of our plight he offered to lend us a pair of crutches he had in his attic. Rene’ gladly accepted, Heather was luckily still able to walk. When everyone had breakfasted and everyone was sufficiently mobile, the family (all 26 of us) assembled for a picture. This is quite a long and often painful process, so I will spare you all the details and say that, although it was extremely long and trying I believe we took a few good pictures that are worth keeping…

Hours later than planned (the actual wake-up time was scheduled to be at 7:30am and it was more like 9am) we had a light lunch, then got into the cars to go to church. Quite innocently I decided to go with Rachel in my Uncle Eric’s car. As soon as all the other cars were out of sight, my Uncle manned the wheel, and went in exactly the opposite direction as the other cars. “Bobbies, your grandfather, always used to do it this way” he explained. “He would use the back country roads to get wherever he wanted; as long as he knew the general direction of where he wanted to go, he was always able to get us there.” It made for a rather interesting trip to church. Uncle Eric would see a road, and say “this looks promising” which meant we would take it and find out. When we were lucky he said “that looks tempting,” which meant he would merely slow down a bit to consider the street before moving on. The scenic route was windy, and poor Mari began to feel sick. Time was ticking on, and when we hit a dead end, Aunt Rene’ began to voice some of her concerns. Uncle Eric simply asked us all for a little more faith. True to his word we arrived at church, although much later than the other cars and only seconds before the meeting began.

Admittedly, I was extremely tired and had trouble staying awake during each meeting. By the time the meetings were over and the building was mostly empty it was almost dinner time. Lasagnas were put into the ovens in the church kitchen, and the Ebeling Family Talent Show began. I sang a duet with Dad called “Children Blessed of the Lord” which turned out to be a disaster… we didn’t have a live accompanist, and although I had recorded our accompanist on a CD she played faster than she normally does which Dad and I weren’t ready for. We had some singers, some pianists, a violinist, an organist, a gymnast and a Tai-Kwon-Doist and by that time the glorious smell of lasagna was wafting through the building. With all possible speed tables were erected, chairs were gathered round, and lasagna was served with salad and fresh warm garlic bread. Thorough cleanup ensued, and we went back to the relief society room where we all sang along to some of Granny’s favorite old songs like “Somewhere over the rainbow” and “Climb Every Mountain” with Rachel doing an excellent job on the piano.

Well, whether by fate or coincidence I know not, but I ended up in Uncle Eric’s car again. This time, the scenic roads were robed in darkness. The glowing lights from the B&B appeared as beacons of hope. Apprehensively I went straight to the common room and asked if there were any brownies left over (I knew everyone had been home long before us and was worried they would all be gone), but luckily there were plenty left, and we all had a good share that we enjoyed with some fresh milk. Just the thing to make me slip right off to sleep… (it’s not true that chocolate gives you nightmares).

Monday proved to be an easy day – happily wakeup time was never strictly enforced, and I was usually able to sleep till about 8:30 or 9am, with the small disturbance of my brother John who would always get up at 7am. The day was hot, but I was the director of a play and knew we had to use the day for play practice. Zero motivation from the kids, who hadn’t really learned their lines yet anyway, so we only got through half of it. The pool was extremely cool and inviting, and the older cousins had some intense water battles over the 2 rafts – much fun for everyone. Towards the middle of the day the older girls drifted on the rafts or lay basking in the warm sun, talking or sleeping.

With the early evening came some visitors: representatives of the Molder family (the matron of the home with 2 of her sons, aged 11 and 19) came to call with some chocolate chip cookies. The boys were good additions to our volley ball team, and we enjoyed playing with a stable net, the one drawback to the location being that if the ball was hit too hard it fell into a creek and had to be fished out. Dad had a fire going and the kitchen helpers were called in to help make the stew. Volleyball continued as each Dutch oven full of potatoes, carrots, beef and broth was carefully covered with coals and allowed to cook.

After a wonderful dinner we were allowed to carry on a longstanding Ebeling family reunion tradition: the roasting of marshmallows and the creation of s’mores. For our family home evening we watched slide shows of family pictures and pictures from past reunions – really interesting to see how we’ve all changed.

Alright, more tomorrow, really tired now, to all good night!!

Love,

Margaret