I was a little apprehensive in the beginning. I never know how my kids will act, Country comes to town was one thought. I was very relieved when we arrived. The Lodge was huge with plenty of room inside and out for the kids to play. We had a private room and bathroom, for some reason the word lodge made me think not private. The only draw back was a lack of swimming area. The Lodge is near Anahuac, at Oak Island. The entire area has no beach or swimming. Last year my father caught a sting ray from the dock, and you could see the jellyfish swimming. I made a big deal to the kids about how dangerous the water was. My youngest sister, Tara, has young children also, we were vigilantly on guard.
The weekend kicked off with 5 of the siblings most of the grand kids and all the great grand kids attending. My sister Jennifer is the only one with a grand baby. My Dad got a four generation photo, it was sweet.
My brother has a lot of really cool friends. Will was especially nice to Landon. He gave Landon a conch shell. A conch shell sounds like the ocean when you hold it up to your ear. Landon talked poor Will's ear off. Will also brought his son who is a few years older than my kids, but made a good playmate.
We decided to go check out the dock, the guys wanted to start fishing. I am sure we resembled a herd heading down the dock. about 15 of us were heading in and out on the dock. The fishing was great, cast and catch, about every third cast you caught something. They were not all keepers, but it was cool to have that kind of success.
Landon needed to use the restroom, so he started back up the dock. The dock was really long and skinny, some women were walking To slow. Ever the gentleman, Landon tried to squeeze past them. I was a few feet behind, I don't have his bob and weave ability. I hear big commotion and lots of yelling. I rush ahead look down and there he is. My little guy, Eyes as big as sand dollars holding on to the leg of the dock for all he is worth. He shimmied up as far as he could. Only his toes were actually in the water. He was terrified. All my warnings about the dangers of the water and there he was. Of course there was only one option, I had to jump in. I was concerned about how deep it was. I did not know how far I would sink before I started to come back up. I was relieved when the water only came up a little over my shoulders. Then I stood up and realized it was only waist deep. Really the water was not even waist deep. I sank up to my knees in what I can only describe as MUCK. I grabbed my frightened child, hoisted him up to my sister Debbie, and waited to be pulled out. Debbie was impressed that Landon was still clutching his conch shell. Evidently the ability to not spill your beer or drop the remote is a skill men are born with. Despite his fear and the fact that he scaled the leg of the dock he never let go of the conch.
Dave arrives and attempts to pull me out. I am heavier than I used to be and I was immersed in mud up to my knees, the only thing going up were my arms, and they were coming out of socket. I realized I was going to have to walk back to land. The water was murky, I could not see, I was sinking sometimes up to my thighs in the mud, but the worse part was the sharp items cutting my feet. Shells in the mud were cutting me, but I was also stepping on unidentified material cutting them. When I reached the shore I was exhausted, out of breath and I was bleeding profusely from my feet.
Landon and Audrey were hysterical. Landon's chest and arms were bleeding from climbing up the pole. Audrey thought I was going to be eaten alive or experience some horrible death in the water. I rushed them to the lodge for a bath. I figured Landon needed his wounds clean and Audrey would be calmed by the tub. No tub in our room, shower only. My sister Debbie lets me in my neighbors room. I start bathing them and realize I am in a lot of pain. My feet are bleeding all over the floor. I also realize My Husband Is Still Fishing. He did not bother to follow us off the dock. Fortunately Amanda showed up and took the kids and dressed them for me. I soaked my feet and tried to clean the bathroom. My sisters put what looked like 20 Dora bandaids on Landon. One month later I still have cuts in my heels from the walk back.
We decided to stay away from the dock for a little while. The kids played in the lodge, and outside on a giant water slide. Some of the older girls passed out glow in the dark "neon" necklaces. Of course my kids start using them for swords, bendy uncontrollable swords. After the kids went to bed the alcohol came out and we decided to start a couple of games of spoons. Alcohol and spoons is a funny combination. If you don't know how to play, LEARN!!
Dave does not drink often, and for good reason. He looked across the game table to my brothers friend Will and says, " you remind me of that guy on TV, whats his name, CORKY!" You know Corky from Life Goes ON. I wanted to crawl under the table and out of the room. Will had been drinking also and did not appear offended until the next morning when my sister Debbie started calling him Corky.
Will's son comes over to our table. He had some welts on his face. Two big welts vertical one by his eye. Everyone was curious, what happened. He said some little girl hit him in the face with her "neon " necklace. Everyone wants to know which girl. He says I don't know her name, the one in the pink shirt. Even though Audrey has been in bed for 2 hours at this point everyone knows it was her. The next morning she asked him to play with her and he said um... no... I think I will play over here by myself. Darn Ninja neon necklace skills! It is a good thing my brother's friends have a good sense of humor, our company requires it.
Before going to bed I went back out on the dock. All the water was gone from the bay. As far as you could see the water was gone. A hurricane had sucked all the water out of the bay. It was an amazing and beautiful experience. I don't know how often it happens, but it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I had a small TSUNAMI panic attack, but David assured me not tidal wave was coming.
For the first Cirillo Reunion I thought it was a great success. We were not all raised together and most of us have had very little or no contact over the years. Attempting to forge relationships at thirty to forty eight years of age is harder. I think despite who raised each of us and how we were raised God was pleased that we were honoring relationships he blessed us with. I am blessed to have 2 brothers and 3 sisters, they are a gift from God. I believe he expressed his happiness at our reunion by allowing a truly incredible miracle of nature to occur while we were there. I look forward to the second annual Cirillo family reunion. I will bring waders, bandaids, icepacks for other children and duct tape for Daves mouth!!!