Family Reunion - Reinert Style

Every 5 or so years we have it. The big Reinert reunion. People come from Texas, Idaho, Washington state, Virginia, Colorado and more to St. Joseph, Missouri where Emma and Henry Reinert, German Lutheran immigrants, met and began a family. They raised 7 children and one grand-daughter - my mother. The Reinert brothers were stone masons - built some of the precious few walls still standing in old St Joe today. They had a signature way to lay cement so that it looked like a neat little roll between the stones. I remember playing on this wall and above the old green garage doors as a child. Better yet so does my mom - she played cafe and pretended to put dishes between the stone pillars! Even still more significant, my Grandmother used to tell me how she played on the stone wall above the garage. It seemed to all of us quite magnificant at the time.
We watch our kids grow up, our parents grow old and feel the sting of our grandparents departing this life. Yet we gather. We eat and - well - we sing. We sing German beer drinking songs and patriotic songs. We talk about God and who looks good and what fortunes (or misfortunes) each of our lives has held since last we gathered. We want to continue to meet - even though we are worlds apart and don't write or visit. We embrace with great joy and deep memories of childhood and camaraderie of heritage. There are a few left who actually remember Henry and Emma. There are many to come who will have the joy of belonging that they created.

My dear dear Marsha.The first cousins still living with only a few missing.

Memory Chocolates

I have this special little box. It contains my memory chocolates - very delicate ones at that. My daughter Christy made them. When Emma was a baby, she made these cute little journals with her personal little flair designing them. She then thought about all the things she would find interesting to ask her grandmother, her auntie, her mother - the kind of interesting things that bring floods of memories to old minds and fires up the emotions long put to bed. They came in a little box that looked like Christy's paper garden cut into little printed question strips of delightful-as-chocolate surprises - cut with pinking sheers of course.

It was a mother's day gift to all of us older women in Emma's life. The point was to share our memories with Emma in our journal. I decided to write in it over the years. Every now and then I remember it, and sneak it from the cupboard for a moment of memory delight. I pull out a question and answer it. I think it is much more a gift to me than Emma. I saved the left side of the page for Emma - someday, I hope she can fill it with all her memories of Grandma and say I think this is much more a gift to me than Grandma.

Farewell Senator Helms

Okay - so I am blatantly pro-life. Jesse Helms died today - God rest his soul. He was a champion and a bull dog - maybe a sheep dog - if you know what I mean. Women being led to the slaughter......

When I was a young mom - about 33 years old, I spoke at a conference in Chicago with Jesse Helms and other well known pro-life figures. I spoke many places so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Could have been other famous folks there like the once Surgeon General Dr. Koop, could have been Jean Garton, and others. But I do remember the bigger than life - no holds barred Jesse Helms. We walked down the hall together from the speakers room to the guest table among paparazzi and body guards. He was towering and my pace could not keep up without a near run. A reporter bent down and asked us to stop for a photo shot. He looked at me and said, "Got a good one of the two of you." Then Senator Helms turned and winked at me as he said to the reporter," I'll take an 8x10 glossy - always want a photo with a pretty lady."

The conference went on and we all did our speaking bit. Never will forget Jesse Helms! He is one of my heros!