Bohannon Family Reunion - Happy July 4th!!!

My Mom's maiden name is Bohannon. Her father, William Jasper (Bud) Bohannon, had one brother and several sisters. Each Fourth of July weekend, the Bohannons gather in Helen, Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. They travel from all over the US and far flung parts of the globe to ride tubes on the "river" through Helen, climb to Anna Ruby Falls, walk to see the Llama farm and ride the paddleboats. But mostly we eat and talk for four glorious days. This year, they all stayed at a new lodge and I’m eagerly awaiting updates to see if they’ll go to the same place next year.

I sure miss being at the reunion. My cousin, Sonua, who lives in Nashville, and I like to room together in the main lodge, staying up all night talking. At last year’s reunion, I was telling her about my desire to travel the world and live in various cultures. Within six months, plans were in place for me to move to Kenya. And now I’m here and they’re all in Helen where Carol is surely hosting a fish fry, cooking up his catches from creeks and rivers throughout South Georgia. Vivian will be making the best banana pudding in the whole world, no kidding. And she makes a HUGE dish of it. My Mom sometimes demonstrates how to make Divinity candy. Each year, all her cousins (she has 27 or so first cousins-please forgive me, ya’ll, for not knowing the exact number) demand she bring Divinity to the reunion. Divinity is difficult to make in hot, humid weather, but somehow Mama managed to make two batches during demonstration sessions last year. It was gobbled up quicker than ice in sweet tea can melt on a July day.

Everyone in my Mom’s family is very creative. They have the greenest thumbs or are the best cooks or paint or woodwork. I’m including a photo of cousin Bill Diehl holding a portrait he painted of his niece. Bill lives in Virginia. My mom’s brother, Richard, who lives in Atlanta with his wife, Sandra, created a fury three years ago. He had a t-shirt printed up with two photos: one of him as a small boy and the other of their grandmother Bohannon, my great-grandmother. And the shirt said, "Grandma’s Favorite" under his photo. The rivalry continues and is quite hysterical to see; men and women in their 50s and 60s arguing over who grandmother loved best.

I really, really miss this crazy group of people and hope they’ve had a brilliant time. I’ll be back with them in July 2007!! For now, I’ll simply wait for their emails with photos while dreaming about Carol’s fried Catfish followed by Vivian’s banana pudding!