Every other year on the July 4th weekend, the descendants of Henry S. and Lady Belle Parker gather for a family reunion. Before this year, our last reunion took place in 2018. We set the next reunion for 2020 – and then 2021. Each time, COVID interfered. We decided to shoot for this July and finally made the reunion a reality.

We held two, maybe three, of our reunions at a church campground on Bear Ridge Road in Copper Hill, Va. The campground was ideal because we had a common kitchen and dining area – and the dorms afforded each family some personal space.

Another good thing about the campground was that all the cousins had little choice but to get to know each other. They played, hiked, and even enjoyed an outside movie together. One of the purposes of any family reunion is to allow the children of one generation to bond with those tied to them by genetics and family.

Sara and her family and Rachel and her family left Friday for the reunion. They used Saturday to take in some sights and activities around Roanoke and Salem. Joe, Rachel, and their girls went hiking. Now, I do not mean to suggest they went on a stroll. No, their goal was to reach the summit of Dragon’s Tooth in Catawba, Va.

Joe gave this account:

“I don’t like to admit defeat. Today I must admit we were beaten badly. I have only run out of water once in all my days of hiking. That was a bad day. Today was worse.”

Joe, Rachel, Abby, and Hannah started the climb up Dragon’s Tooth. They struggled up the rugged terrain and then realized their water was getting low. Rachel and Hannah turned back. Joe and Abby continued the excruciating climb upward over the rungs and cliffs.

A check of the thermometer showed the temperature at 96 degrees. Abby decided she could do no further, so Joe considered leaving her to climb to the summit, but he decided the best course was to go down the mountain and toward water.

While Rachel, Joe, and the girls spent part of Sunday recovering from the ordeal, Sandra and I went to church, ate a quick lunch, and started to Judy’s house in Vinton, Va. We crammed the 4-hour, 7-minute trip into a mere 5 hours. At my age, when nature calls, I must listen and render near-immediate obedience.

Aunt Judy volunteered to host the main reunion activity – a meal for everyone. I trembled as I thought of all of us crowding into her home, hoping against hope the poor house would not suffer any significant demolition.

The meal we enjoyed would have put a church homecoming to shame. The Virginia participants took care of providing food. To help with expenses, the North Carolina detachment and others tossed cash in the donation receptacle, which looked like an old-timey front porch mailbox.

John, my brother, and his wife Giselle had come up Friday from Florida. John experienced one of the most unusual interactions with nature on that trip. Tom, Judy’s husband, has several deer that come to his back fence and often jump over it into his yard. Tom has named one of the does Dottie. On Sunday, John went with Tom and had the opportunity to have Dottie eat from his hand. I am not sure who was most grateful – Dottie or John.

As I think back to that Sunday meal, the words of “The Thanksgiving Song” by Ben Rector come to mind:

“So, fill your plates and fill your drinks / And fill this house with family – / The kind of love a thousand miles can’t wash away. / And the older that I get I see / That life is short and bittersweet. / Thank God for this Thanksgiving Day.”

Even though we met the day before Independence Day, that Sunday was still a Thanksgiving Day for me.

Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.