9/17/06---Bowdren Family Reunion---Part 3

So before we get to last Saturday, the day of the big event....I would be remiss if I did not mention something that I totally forgot happened while we were at West Point.
I slammed the car door on m brother-in-law's hand.  I had told him before that if he made anymore snotty remarks about Notre Dame that I was going to lose my temper, but he just......ahem.
Actually we were getting into the van and I didn't realize where his hand was as he was getting into the van--or more specifically, his finger.  OUCH!  Sorry about that Johnny.
Good thing we had a certified hand therapist on board.

Now, onto the events of Saturday....so we make our way back to my cousin's farm and we get to really see it in the light of day.  The farm is, in a word, spectacular.  You know things are going to be good when you notice that the road they live on has THEIR name on it....as we approach, we are greeted by a highway sign that reads....

CAUTION....APPROACH WITH CAUTION.....BOWDREN'S PARTYING

Its always good to know someone with the highway department, am I right?

We park at the bottom of the hill and are met by two classic Model T-esque cars, both from the 30's that drive us up to the house.  We couldn't help but notice that the door handles on our car were, uh....a pair of pliers.  Hey, so there's a little bit of remodeling left to do, okay?? 

It was an amazing day....truly one of the best days of my life.  The whole day was spent seeing people I hadn't seen in at least a decade, catching up on old stories, introducing my wife and kids to relatives they didn't know they had.  Oh...and karaoke.
As the afternoon grew later, a d.j. showed up and it was determined that I would be leading our family in a karaoke number.  That's what I get for being the family idiot.
Before that, a bunch of my cousins are getting ready to sing "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and Kim urges me to go up and...ya know....be King Fool.  Here's a karaoke tip:
Don't read the crawler.  It will totally throw your timing off.....just go by what you remember, sing like crazy....and humm your way through the parts you don't know.
So here I am, along with my cousins Patrick (doing a good Meatloaf by the way), Maureen & Terrance (before he walked away) being in joined in harmony by my cousin Kathleen (taking the girlfriend role)....and we are singing our collective behinds off.
And all of a sudden I look up....and there's my dad standing there, joining my sister in watching the show.....and all I could think of was:

Good Lord....I hope he doesn't know the words to this song.

Oh well, I'm sure he'll eventually ask me what it was about...and I'll have to break it to him...the important thing was, we were having a good time.  After that, the Florida version of the Bowdren's came up--introduced by Rene, apparently having no problem with a microphone and creating a spectacle (who knew?) and we launched into our own version of "Soul Man" by the Blues Bros.  My brother did a good job of dancing around in a circle when we got to a part in the song he didn't know.  The really scary thing?  Its available for all to see on video--for my complete embarassment and your pleasure.  Hey, what a little humiliation amongst family members, eh?

I did make sure at the end of the song that my cousin Aileen heard that Penn State had lost to Notre Dame that day....she had talked trash all weekend...payback was sweet.
We made our way back to the hotel, driving slowly through the fog...and of course still managed to lose my sister on the way back....Kellie was happy to point out that it was areas like this that crazed killers hung out in the movies.  Thanks for your support.
Thankfully, we avoided Freddy Krueger that evening.

Later,
Jeff