I hosted our annual family reunion this past weekend, I thank God that he turned the weather completely around, otherwise this may have been a disaster. Last week the weather was over 100 degrees with the heat and humidity, but by Saturday morning it was comfortable in the 8o's. Praise God!
My Dad got to share the family tree charts with relatives, many of whom I just met for the first time and we live in the same county!
We got to enjoy finger food, including 2 bushels of Maryland crabs...($125 per bushel)! It was a finger-licking good time.
We had church at the park on Saturday.
A special thanks to D&K enterprises for printing the shirts overnight!
The teenagers turned out in a large number this year and they participated in the games. The little kids enjoyed the pinata and a ghetto game of kickball.
Oh and the food...no one can say they went away hungry.
Special thanks to family friend and newest adopted Tarpley family member Lisa Renee Young for all of her invaluable assistance both Friday night and Sunday!
This marked ten years of Nicole and I doing the family reunions and I'm glad to say I'm retired...it was a LOT of work, but it was well worth having my cousins all together especially the ones who have lost their parents, the actual links to the Tarpley family reunions...that was my goal to keep them connected and all the anxiety I endured was worth it.
I am proud to be in such a wonderful family. My cousins Lisa and Nicole have done an awesome job over the past few years organizing the Tarpley families. We have been able to trace our family history all the way back to a region in Africa. Not many families can say that, but I am always telling the history of our family and how I got a chance to visit the "plantation" where my great grandfather (Dea Tarpley) and his siblings had to endure slavery. Each year I learn something new about family members. People are always impressed with the amount of history I know about my family.
I believe our elder family members and those in heaven are proud to see that we continue to get together as a family. They are even more proud to know that we continue to pass the torch on to the next generation of Tarpley family members.
It's time to groom and prepare the teenagers for their family responsibilites.
Sincerely,
Proud Tarpley Family Member
Posted by: Rhonda Pettie | August 18, 2007 at 12:33 PM