Maggotfest 2023

The White Family Reunion, also known as Maggotfest (in honor of maggot-like childhood sleeping bag races among Jeff's cousins), was held in Lemont, Pennsylvania from June 16-19th. It was a backyard gathering of 60 relatives who hadn't been together in one place in over a decade. The White family is an eclectic group of people, and I loved talking with all of the fascinating family members over the three day reunion. The reunion was organized to fulfil Grandpa and Grandma (Hal and Stevie) White's last wish of having their ashes scattered atop Mt. Nittany. Family members gathered from all corners of the country (WA, CA, FL, UT, NH, etc.), and it felt good to be together, even though I don't know these cousins very well. Every single one of Hal and Stevie White's living children and grandchildren attended the event, with a large number of their great grandchildren present as well. 

Journal excerpts:

Saturday, June 17th was the main day of the reunion. Here's a rundown of the events:

• I ran 5 miles at 7:30am along a gorgeous rolling country road south of Lemont. The birds were singing and the stone houses were rustic in the bucolic greenery. And the air smelled like honeysuckle.
• At 9am we walked over to the homestead (a tenth of a mile from our Airbnb) for a memorial of Grandpa and Grandma White. Their 3 living sons shared a few memories and then mixed their ashes together. As the ashes were mixed, several hilarious jokes were made about giving Grandma and Grandpa a massage, or tickling them. The backyard memorial was an awesome mixture of solemnity and humor.
• After the memorial, all able-bodied members of the family hiked the steep 1 mile trail up Mt. Nittany and scattered the ashes there. The hike was interesting because we all left at different times and some people got lost, so we were waiting at the top for quite a while. Jeff, Jay, Rose, and a few other cousins ran up the mountain (about a mile up). Jeff tripped and fell hard on some rocks, scraping up his toe and knee, arm, and hand so the blood stained his shoe!
• A late lunch in the tent at the homestead after the hike: turkey spiral wraps plus lots of chips, fruits, and veggies on trays.
• We hung out at the homestead for a few hours, chatting while watching several cousins build a dam to create a swimming area in the creek, then watching people swim and play in the freezing creek. A bunch of the cousins played water-melon in the creek: two teams worked to move a greased watermelon to their end zone of the creek. It was hilarious!
• We walked back to our Airbnb to rest for an hour before a 6pm dinner at the historic Granary (built in 1885, original wood structure, rented out for the occasion), which was a few blocks the other direction from our Airbnb. We loved the walkability of tiny Lemont, PA.
• After dinner, Uncle Boo (aka Harold, the oldest son of Grandma & Grandpa White) gave a 75 minute slideshow presentation of White family history with pictures. Then we cleaned up and went back to our Airbnb by 9pm. 

It was a 19,000 step day for me. 

Sunday, June 18th: This morning we drove 45 minutes to attend church the Altoona Ward, which was Jeff's home ward that he grew up in. I didn't remember to say Happy Father's Day to Jeff until they announced it in church, haha. A whole bevvy of sweet white-haired sisters remembered Jeff and gave him hugs. It was adorable. We only stayed for sacrament meeting because we had to make the 45 minute drive back to Lemont to continue with the reunion mingling. Before we left the church, Jeff did his annual triple kid lift for a picture.

We ate lots of food today. We had enough leftovers from last night's dinner for lunch today, and Uncle Boo and Uncle Hubie got a massive order of Chipotle for dinner. It was nice to have foods that worked for my temperamental stomach. 

The kids played in the yard/meadow and in the creek all afternoon. Amber soaked two outfits in the creek but never put on her bathing suit. I chatted and listened to lots of people. Jeff's hurt toe was bothering him so we went back to our Airbnb house to air it out and rebandage it. While we were "home," I also called my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day. Then I tried reading a book and somehow slept and read at the same time for 20 minutes, haha. May need to reread that chapter...

This evening we had dinner and a bonfire with lots of chatting. And so many marshmallows. The White family is so nice and welcoming. I enjoy talking with them and listening to them. I did feel a bit dull-witted with my conversational skills due to tiredness, though... red eye flights create a ripple effect for days!

 

PICTURES! (Pictures from our hike up Mt. Nittany will be in a separate post.)

The second cousins/great-grandchildren of Hal and Stevie who were present at the reunion. I think about 10 of the great-grandchildren were unable to attend.

Rose decided that the creek was too cold for full submersion (I agreed!) so we dangled our feet in and nearly froze our toes off.

Amber was in nature heaven. She said "there's so much nature here!" I think she meant trees and greenery without thorns and irrigation like we have in Sunnyside.

Amber joined Helen and Sean on a tube in the creek.

Amber, paddling around, clutching her prize perfectly straight stick. Helen is in the background preparing to toss the greased watermelon into the middle of the creek for round one of Water Melon.

Codruts was unstoppable at moving the greased melon to his team's endzone.

Water Melon continues. Rose and I sat out, but Jay dove into the fray.

Codruts with another breakaway!

The first melon cracked, so Helen buttered up another one. I was laughing my head off the whole time.

A catered dinner in the Granary. It had a rustic cozy ambience.

The Granary in the late evening light.

I barely managed to stick to my goal of drawing one picture per day this year. During the family history slideshow, I sketched Grandpa and Grandma White's portraits. I only met them once, back in 2007. 

Family history talk! It was unexpectedly unifying to sit in a room full of family and listen to Uncle Boo tell stories about his parents and other ancestors.

Jay, Rose, and Amber learned their way around Lemont in the blink of an eye and easily found their way back to our Airbnb on their own.

Sunday morning: upholding our Father's Day tradition! Even though Jay and Rose grew a collective 7 inches and gained close to 40 pounds between the two of them over the last year, Jeff worked smarter, not harder to pick them up.

Chatting in the backyard.

On Sunday afternoon, we worked together to create a visual family tree using polaroid pictures of everyone present at the reunion, and drawing in the missing family members with markers. It was a grand group art project.

We put a picture of a picture of Grandma and Grandpa White at the base of the tree and had their progeny growing up from their roots.

Rose relaxing in a hammock by the rushing creek.

Behind Rose is the dam that a few burly cousins built.

My artistic rendering of a cutthroat game of Water Melon.

We were SO TIRED the whole time! Every now and then, we'd all find ourselves slumped in our Airbnb apartment vegging out for a bit to recharge before heading back to the reunion. It was a blend of travel-tired and introvert-tired.

Amber enjoyed making several giant marshmallow smores and gifting them to various family members on Sunday night. (She also ate several smores herself.)

This little white table held a bouquet of wildflowers and the remaining ashes of Grandma and Grandpa White--to be scattered in Massachusetts where they first met.

Rose became one with a marshmallow. She was stickier than Spiderman!

Roasting marshmallows.

Amber connected with Uncle Boo, who as a retired Biology professor was a fount of facts about bugs and nature. Amber has this darling innate trust and respect for elderly men, and it was fun to watch her talk and ask questions.

Jay snagged a turn in the popular creekside hammock before we left on Monday afternoon.

Amber, asking Uncle Boo pressing nature questions. "Uncle Boo, I actually have a question for you. Why do insects have six legs?"

Grandma and Grandpa White in their younger years.

Our last hurrah before we drove back to Pittsburgh to catch a plane was a stop at Meyer's Dairy for some delicious ice cream. I took a lactase pill so I could enjoy the creaminess as well, and it was worth the effort. Yum!

One last view of the homestead, from the back of the meadow. That brown roof on the left is the house, with the white tent down below and Rose and Amber walking on the far left.

Evening original White cousin pic, only missing one person.

The second cousins with the White homestead in the background! [photo credit: Lillian Pintea-White]

Posterity! The great-grandchildren of Hal and Stevie White. (Missing 10 or 11 kids who couldn't make it to the reunion.) [photo credit: Lillian Pintea-White]

Grandchildren (and spouses) and great grandchildren. [photo credit: Lillian Pintea-White]

Everyone! [photo credit: Lillian Pintea-White]