Family

I had quite the adventure this weekend. I was able to accomplish something very rare, get all my surviving brothers together in one place. For my next trick, I will turn lead into gold. My wife just informed me that I’m getting a little too big for my britches so just enjoy the fact that we had a mini family reunion. That leads to a very important question, do these jeans make my ass look big?

My oldest brother now lives in southwestern Michigan. After living most of his life just outside Chicago, he and his wife decided to enjoy their retirement in the quaint community of Coloma, MI, right across the street from Paw Paw Lake. I couldn’t agree more with their choice of location. It is absolutely beautiful. It is quiet, scenic, relaxed and as green as Ireland. For a guy who’s been in brown Southern California for a few decades, I really enjoyed that aspect of the visit. I was able to convince my two brothers, who also live in Southern Cal, to join me. I contacted my brother who lives west of Chicago and he joined us. Unfortunately our youngest brother, who passed away almost a decade ago, couldn’t make it. I was worried that if I tried to take the urn with his ashes through the TSA checkpoint, they might consider it an explosive device. They must have known him while he was alive. 

I know many of you are saying, getting that many family members together at one time would be its own explosive device and I am happy to say, it wasn’t. There were three things that helped defuse any of the potential irritants that all large families have to deal with. The first was football. We spend most of Saturday and Sunday watching football games, topped off by the Texans, Bears game on Sunday afternoon. A Notre Dame victory on Saturday was also welcomed. We all spend our time venting any grievances at the game instead of each other. Even though a Bears blow-out would have been welcomed, the “by the skin of our teeth,” win was acceptable.

The second factor that helped keep any tensions low was a giant pot of Chili Man Chili made by my sister-in-law, and she really knows how to make a proper pot of Chili Man. Chili Man Chili brand was founded by my mom’s  uncle, Joe DeFrates. He used to send my mom the special chili powders he invented, so she could make the tasty recipes at home. Our family grew up on the stuff. One way to keep any of us happy is to hand us a bowl of the outstanding chili. How can you argue while shoveling down the best chili ever made with some corn bread? Any one who wants to dispute this can reach me at http://www.idon’tgiveadamnwhatyouthink.com. Just leave your message there.

The third thing that kept us busy was rebuilding a carburetor for a 1930 Model A. My oldest brother is quite the Model A enthusiast and a long time member of the Model A Club. His move to Michigan actually moved him closer to the center of the Model A world. The one brother still living near Chicago had to leave Saturday afternoon, so there were only four of us left to accomplish this task. My oldest brother has been dealing with some health issues and fixing the device on his own has become difficult. I know what you are saying, four people trying to work on one tiny carburetor doesn’t seem like a great idea, but we were smart enough to designate one of us to do the actual disassembly, reassemble job. That was the youngest, and the only one still working . His daytime job is being a mechanic. As you can see, that was not a difficult choice. The other three of us stood around and offered advice. You think that in itself would be a disaster but as we got into the job, it worked quite well. It also gave us an excuse to go to an auto parts store, and what red blooded American male wouldn’t enjoy that. We also bought a dozen doughnuts. How can you possibly do auto repair without having a doughnut, as greasy as a wheel bearing, in your hand. After a few hours, and just before the start of the Bears game, we successfully reinstalled the carburetor in the Model A, only to find out there was no spark to fire up the engine. After a couple of futile attempts and with the Bears game about to start, we decided that was a job for another day and headed for the family room and an afternoon on the grid-iron.

Anyone who comes from as large of a family as I have (six boys and two girls total, six surviving) knows that there is always a chance of some family drama, but it didn’t happen at this long, overdue get-together. My sister, who also lives in California, couldn’t join us for medical reasons, but was able to be part of the reunion with FaceTime. It was a special visit and I think we will always cherish our opportunity to make this happen. The only dispute that occurred was which beer was the best. While I enjoyed a Guinness, one brother enjoyed his Miller High Life, while another sipped on Killian’s Red. One brother did enjoy a couple of beers but really enjoyed nursing a couple fingers of Jameson’s.

The only hang-up for the weekend was our visit to the White Castle right after we landed at Midway Airport. Not having any of the cult food outlets in California, we were longing to reacquaint ourselves with the mini-burger we all grew up with. Unfortunately the sit-down part of the restaurant was closed for renovations and the only way to get a bag of the delicious sliders was going through the drive through. I think our wait in the drive through line was longer than our flight to Chicago, kind of like how it is all the time at In-N-Out Burger, out here in California.

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