9/13/06--Bowdren Family Reunion...Part Deux

So the next day on our trip was Friday, the 8th of September.  We had decided to make a trip as a family to West Point, site of the U.S. Army officer training--you know, that sort of thing.

We got up early--well, relatively early since Scarlett was with us (oh its a joke!)--and after a terrific $8.95 Villa Roma breakfast buffett (hilited by the limp bacon & cold toast--mmm, that's good resort eatin!) and headed out towards West Point.  We decided to go in 2 cars, with my brother & Angie taking the point car with my mom & dad and Kim & I with the kids going with Rene and her family.  Now, I need to stop and mention something here.  My mother, God bless her, may be the most wonderful person on the planet Earth.  But truthfully, and she will admit this herself---she is the world's WORST backseat driver.  I don't just mean in our family....I mean in this particular solar system.  So as they're driving in front, Chip mentions the turnoff to the academy....which he corrects a few moments later.  We get onto the base, which is truly breathtaking in how beautiful it really is and park the car to go to lunch.  My dad had planned for us to have lunch inside the hotel that is located on the base for the really big military brass, and after some debate about who's going to park where, we all are seated around a table with a spectacular view of the Hudson River.  My brother and I go outside to take some photos and I asked my brother how mom was on the drive up.

"Well, besides the whole getting directions from everyone in the car....I think if I tapped the brakes everytime Mom was backseat driving I would have had to put the flashers on."

Now mind you, I'm not saying this as a knock on my mom.  Far from it.  Its part of her personality and truth be told, when I do my impression of her--its the best part of my act.

Lunch is excellent and we all enjoy giving dad a hard time about being a career navy officer in the heart of the army.  The only bad part of the day is that I wished we could've stayed longer--really.  The view from parts of the base is that unbelieveable.
We did manage to sneak inside Michie Stadium, home of the Black Knights of the Hudson--the Army football team--and get some nice photos before we left.

That night, we had all planned on meeting up in the heart of downtown Jeffersonville, NY--which is so smalltown that on the drive in you can see someone's laundry hanging from the back of a building--and having some dinner.  We park across the street and manage to wade through the infestation of gnats to make it to the back of the restaurant, which has been taken over by Bowdren's.  God help them.  More relatives that I haven't seen in...well, a couple in 24 hours and a few more in like 20 years.  Aunt Gerri is there and is definitely Queen Bee.  Its a tough weekend for her.  I figure she's torn between the happiness of everyone she cares so much about getting together and enjoying each others company and the love of her life, my Uncle Ken, not being there.
So naturally I try and give her a show....and apparently I am matched by my cousin Maureen, who is dubbed a "close # 2" by my wife in the category of "funniest Bowdren". 
I'm hurt that there's even a list.
But the best part of the evening was my dad.  You'll recall that I mentioned that the evening before that my Aunt Gerri had blurted out the story about the guy who had the vasectomy?  Well towards the end of our dinner, somehow the subject came up of how all these people (estimated 125) were going to be there that hadn't seen each other in seemingly forever, and how we were all wondering how we were going to be able to tell who was who in the zoo.  So, we are told that my cousin has come up with the bright idea of having nametags for everyone, including a listing of who they're related too.
My tag for instance, would say:
Jeff Bowdren, son of Larry Bowdren and so on and so on.

So all these ideas are going around about how we could abbreviate the nametags, and Dad says something to the effect of....."what about the guy with the vasectomy"......
at which point Aunt Gerri, who's sitting next to him, points to the guy on the other side of her, my cousin Maureen's husband....and smiles.

We all just about fell off our chairs laughing as Dad began apologizing to the poor guy.
My brother told him that if it made him feel any better.....he was a vasectomy survivor also.  :)

The best part of the evening wasn't the food....it was the company.  It was reconnecting
with the people that are the most important part of your life.....your family.

Vito Corleone....the Godfather of the movies....truly had it right.

"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." — Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)

That night....I felt like a real man.

Later,
Jeff