I was expressing a final “I love you” to one of my daughters with a warm hug. Her husband and kids were mostly loaded into their SUV with the large, enclosed trailer towing behind. They were heading home, back to Arizona, from the Oliver and Barbara Harris family reunion. I said to my daughter, “I sort of hate to see it end, but I sure am glad it’s over.” That statement illustrates my ambivalence toward family reunions.

In previous years, another family reunion was huge in our lives. It was made up of the descendents of Barbara’s grandfather, Wallace Lee. Barbara and I attended with a bunch of her cousins. It was always immensely enjoyable. Our kids were little and required lots of attention but we were young and had the energy to take them to reunions.

All of her grandfather’s generation is now gone. Most of her father’s generation has also passed away. We now find ourselves among the older generation and most of our generation is growing old, tired and disinterested.

We witnessed what I believe to be the passing of an era. We held the Lee family reunion in conjunction with the Oliver and Barbara Harris family reunion. Only two Lee families, other than ours, attended. I don’t think there will ever be another Lee family reunion,

There are problems attendant to ending such a tradition as a family reunion. For example, there is probably in excess of a thousand dollars in the Lee family reunion fund. What do we do with that money? I facetiously told Barbara that the money should go to the oldest member of the Lee family to attend the most recent reunion. That would be Barbara.

The next logical step in such a reunion would be to drop down a generation or two and hold reunions on a smaller basis. In our case we could drop down to Barbara’s generation and limit the reunion to her parents’ descendents and their families. The problem in this case is that her siblings have not been good reunion-attendees. There is little to suggest that they would be interested in such a reunion.

The next step is to drop another generation to where each of Barbara’s siblings has its own family reunion. That is essentially what we have done with the Oliver and Barbara Harris family reunion. Barbara and I have become the older generation. We are the senior members of the reunion. It is with some pride that we watch our sons and daughters step in and run things.

I think that if you were to ask most parents and grandparents what their greatest concern is, they would answer that it is their children and grandchildren. Some psychologist or other once said that parents are only as happy as their least happy child. That is the extent to which we are wrapped in our children’s lives.

Barbara and I are lucky that way. Our children seem to love each other and to cherish the associations they have. Probably the most important thing that happens at a family reunion is the fostering of those precious relationships.

I quietly observed our children as they made the reunion a success. It occurred to me that most of the things that I once thought I was good at, are now being done better by my kids. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be.

Other things change. I was walking with a grandchild and called her attention to two woodpeckers rapping on the trees. One made a light, tap-tap-tap. The other was a heavier, tok-tok-tok, followed by a faint, forest echo.

I said, “They’re texting.”