Last night I watched a videotape Dewey Van Valkenburg sent me – captioned "Minneapolis, MN, NAVVF 1996 – Dutch Dancers." When the tape started, I was surprised and delighted to see some scenes from the 1996 Reunion showing some of the Family members attending. On my wall is a calendar, a gift from a VV family member; in my computer are e-mails from VV family members; on my desk are notes and letters from VV family members. At each of the Reunions I have attended, I have visited with many other Van Valkenburg/hs. All these "cousins" are related to me, are a part of my family.

This picture of five generations of my family was taken in 1984: my grandmother, Beulah, my father Horace, myself, my son Gary, my daughter Jeni and my grand-daughter Julie. We will have to wait until my granddaughter has grandchildren to have another five-generation picture, for I am now the oldest member of my immediate family.

I have lost touch with three of my Maudru cousins, although their mother, my Aunt Dorothy, and Joe’s wife and I exchange notes at Christmas time. Cousin Chris Bradberry is an e-mail correspondent but since my father died, I have no idea where my other cousin, James Van Day, lives.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate that I lived in the same town with my grandparents. We cousins gathered at their home for parts of each summer. Because of those grandparents, we were "family". Now they are gone, and we cousins have separated. My parents are gone and my two siblings live in another state.

Why do families drift apart? We all live such busy lives now – our work carries us out of our childhood environments, marriage and divorce separate us, but perhaps most significantly grandparenting is not an aspect of everyone’s life.

Since my brother is hosting the Reunion in Denver next summer, I will be with him and my sister then. I expect we will do a lot of reminiscing about the days when we were together with our parents and grandparents.

If you have "lost" your family, be aware that there are many NAVVF members who are your family. If you have a large family group, be thankful for your connections and those who keep you together. It is very likely that it is one or two persons –probably the oldest members – who keep your family unit together. God bless them and all of us.