Family Reunion in Texas (Family)

 I have just returned from attending my 24th Annual Kieschnick Family Reunion. This is a gathering of the clan related to my six sisters, one living brother, one deceased brother and me. This year we numbered 108 in attendance.

One evening with a Shiner Bock beer in hand I just sat off to the side and observed and reflected upon this assemblage.

I was struck by the fact we all got along and were comfortable speaking with each other and challenging each other in golf, Texas 42 (a game played with dominoes) and Pitching Washers (a Texas based competition now spreading throughout the world). There is much that unites us: our deep love, respect and admiration for our parents, Oscar and Lina Doering Kieschnick. We are mostly people of faith. We share family values of integrity, hard work, frugal life styles, service to community and personal responsibility. I learned all this anew at this reunion and I am grateful.

Within our common background and many shared values we are diverse. As I reflected upon just some of the vocations of those gathered the list quickly grew very long. In our midst we have teachers, pastors, business owners and executives, ranchers, farmers, psychologists, professors, counselors, secretaries, attorneys, medical doctors, opticians, real estate agents, postal workers, social workers, and lots of oil related work like managing oil flow, repairing oil rigs, designing new ways to repair supply lines, managing oil leases etc. etc.

Our economic situations range from getting by on Social Security to multi-millionaires.  Yet when we gather those differences do not tear us apart

We first generation sibs all sprang from Mom and Dad in Williamson Country, Texas. Now I mentally run through the people at this reunion. The places of birth include China, Hong Kong Taiwan, Spain, Jamaica, and Russia. Languages now spoken by Kieschnick family members include German, English, Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Jamaican Patois, Cantonese, French, Italian and Portuguese.

As I look at my relatives I recall how many of them have come to my aid in my time of need. They helped me through school. They loaned me their vehicles. The helped me with sex education. They modeled faith and trust. When my wife Jane flew home from Hong Kong in a coma they made sure the ambulance was waiting at the airport. When my two sons and I were in Tiananmen Square and Mao’s army moved in they prayed for us. When one or more of us showed different stages of Alzheimer’s they empathized,. When our country needed to respond to Pearl Harbor they enlisted. When son David died way too young they came to bring comfort and support.

Enough already! I got down to the dirty business of calculating expenses and figured that over the years Jane and I have invested some $50,000.00 to attend and host these 24 reunions. And I have decided it was worth every penny.