my window to the world…..

In 1963, my parents bought a set of World Book Encyclopedias.  At the time, it was incredible investment on the part of my parents.   All of the information from the world was held in these books, at least that’s what it seemed to me.

I would spend hour upon hour paging through these, tripping over oddities while looking for information, sometimes for research, sometimes for pleasure, but always sometimes.  Eventually, as I paged through these books, year after year, I got to know a lot of stuff. 

The World Book was a way to find things, mostly accidentally.  Things got to be interesting, not because I wanted them to be, but because they were.  I found information because it was there, not because I searched for it.  And, the more I traveled through the pages, the more curious I got.

The internet has replaced encyclopedias for the most part.  While I love scanning and getting information, it’s different than sitting down with a book.  If you saw it in World Book, it was knowledge.

we are family…..

Yesterday, September 6, we had a renewal of the Erdman Family Reunion. It's been over a decade since we all got together. I don't know if there'll ever be another one, but I'm glad this one happened.

Nearly 100 aunts, uncles, nieces, cousins and more showed up at the Doug (brother) and Tisha Erdman residence for over six hours of talking and eating and talking some more. Eighty-seven years separated the oldest to the youngest.

Some of my relatives came armed with pictures and all came with memories, memories we shared over and over. My cousin John came with a 1914 Model T. Nancy came on a Harley. How cool is that!

Doug and Tisha's residence has a large pond (some might call it a lake) with an island cottage house in the middle. Pontoon boat rides were given for much of the late afternoon to the island. After while, I was sure this was going to be as popular as Alcatraz.

Pictures were taken of each branch of the family tree. Then there were the cousins, and then the children of the cousins. It was interesting to see how the generations were moving on, how we who were the children, were now the parents.

Typically, we don't all see each other except to pay our respects to one of us who has died. This was different. We were there to celebrate each other, our lives and our heritage.

People came from all over, many flying in, knowing this event was special. My daughter, Cortney, flew in from Arlington, Virginia. She was not alone.

My aunt Ruth and Uncle Marvin organized this event. Aunt Ruth put together a sort of family history from the seed of this event, my grandparents, Louis and Hattie Erdman. While I don't think the Pulitzer committee will be calling soon, this publication will find its place in my most valued possessions.

Thank you Doug, Tisha, Uncle Marvin, Aunt Ruth, and all who thought it was important enough to be part of this event. It made for one memorable day.