Poshdeluxe

it feels good to come home (except in texas, not alabama).

last weekend, i drove with my parents to bandera, in the texas hill country, to attend the nelson family reunion. it happens in the summer of every even year, and i’ve been going since i was a wee little pants. my grandmother, helen, was born into the nelson family with six brothers and sisters, and these siblings went on to produce 13 children, who we call “the cousins.” even though the family has spread across the country, and the connections are no longer as easy as saying “my aunt” or “my cousin,” we still come together to remember, to share, to know each other.

as an only child (and only grandchild), i’ve always been incredibly thankful for my extended family. i see pieces of myself in the eyes, the laughter, the movement of my relatives, and they remind me that i’ve been a person before this year, before this crisis, before this moment. they were there when i fell in the lake while fishing with my dad; they remember when my horse took me on an unexpectedly wild ride; they can still sing along to the songs on the old ranch jukebox just as well as i can.

they’ve seen me grow into myself. and i’ve seen our family extend and shift and wither and blossom, over and over again.

nowadays, the term heritage usually means traditions or culture, special meals and languages. but there’s something subtle beyond all of that, something as basic and mystifying as our own shared blood.

if i had the time and you had the interest, i’d tell you the story of each of the thirteen cousins, all of them unique. but if you knew them, you’d see their resemblances much more clearly than in this photograph.

one of my favorite parts of the reunion is welcoming the new little buds on the family tree. this is madeline, my “cousin” melissa’s first child:

madeline likes playing in hay and eating pink frosted shredded wheat.

i also adore the chance to reconnect with “my generation” of the family. my cousin rachel and i are only a year apart, and there are lots of photographs of us together as babies.

the family still can’t believe we’re this old. i can’t either.

over time, the texas hill country has sort of grown into a member of the family. i’ve always loved exploring bandera, ingram and the other surroundings towns. apparently, bandera is the cowboy capital of the world.

my favorite thing about the ranch is that it seems to slow everything down… my thoughts, my breathing, my heart– everything relaxes around a campfire or on a shady porch. you can look up at the stars or out across the horizon or into the eyes of someone who is a part of you.

my favorite restaurant in bandera is the fool moon cafe. unfortunately, they recently stopped serving espresso (i nearly died).

it used to say “cafe & coffee.” i love how the “&” sign remains, as if anticipating something.

the people that work at the ranch are fascinating and yet most of them are just regular local people. however, my favorite is definitely *not* local– a british cowboy named dennis.

dennis made a horse “smile” at my little cousin emma, and she started crying.

the reunion makes me do lots of touristy “texas” things that i, as a totally cheesy pants, love doing. for example, square dancing.

i mean, when was the last time you squared danced?!!! elementary school? let me tell you, promenading and doe-c-doing (i have absolutely no idea how to spell square dancing terms) are WAY more fun than they were in 3rd grade gym. maybe cos now i don’t mind holding the hand of the opposite sex.

another ranch tradition involves the trick roper, kenneth. kenneth’s been coming out to show us “fancing roping” since i was about 12 or 13. in fact, he’s helped to create a family tradition: every time a new significant other (husband, girlfriend, etc.) comes to the reunion, they get roped by kenneth. and then he freaks them out by pretending to whip a piece of straw from their mouths while they’re blindfolded (but in reality, his dad, who’s about 90 years old, sneakily takes it out when kenneth cracks the whip).

this year’s inductee, allision (kenneth was pretending that he would perform the trick blindfolded, but then he put it over allison’s eyes instead. i think she was relieved and then suddenly more afraid):

it may sound cliche, but my family are good people. they’re kind and loving and compassionate; they give great hugs at funerals and love on all of the new babies. i’d like to think that their values continue to rub off on me… perhaps that’s the piece of my heritage that i most treasure.

of course, family members influence me in other ways, too. take, for instance, my little cousin, emma:

i saw emma in this outfit and immediately told her that she is my fashion icon. i don’t think she knew what that meant, really, but she was sweetly flattered anyway… especially when she saw my new pink boots:

i love you, family. thanks for my values, my self and my pink cowboy boots.