Reunion Time

No child left behind has a whole different meaning in the Testerman family, we see a child within the family that is in need and people step up to meet it. I, myself, was one of those children, my birth mother should never have had children, she was not the mothering kind. This is not a bid for pity, it is a fact, she knew it, she gave all of us away, I have often said I fared the best.
I digress, allow me to explain my thought pattern, this weekend was my family reunion and as usual there were a ton of kids running around. A truly great sight to see the younger generation there running around getting to know each other; making memories with their cousins that will last a lifetime.
One of my cousins was telling me how he was trying to get permanent custody of four of the little boys, for whatever reasons their mothers are not able to care for them. Some have even been put in foster care at this point; he is hiring an attorney to get the boys.
Several are his grandsons; several are his brother’s grandsons, his brother that has passed away. I am not surprised by his endeavors, you see someone who was not in my direct line stepped up and took me. My cousin’s generosity in this area is inherent, I have seen it over and over, Testermans stepping up and taking on a responsibility that really isn’t theirs but we consider it ours due to the children being our blood. Whether they are direct line or not, we do this because, well it’s what we do.
When someone gets married, and the other person already has children, we take those as well. They are now family, they are ours, in all the important meanings of the word family.
Elizabeth Anne’s fiancé will find this out when I start stealing his little girl to come over and play with Tessa and the Irishman’s girls. She’s a little young yet, but soon she will start saying she wants to go to Gigi’s house. I already consider her my new granddaughter.
The Irishman went with me again to my family reunion; we took his son and his youngest daughter. The oldest one had plans that she didn’t want to give up, understandable at her age, she is 12 almost thirteen, and well at this point there was nothing but strangers at this event.
So off we go with two kids, a dog and an Irishman, yes we took Stormie with us, after a quick stop at Starbucks we were off on our road trip.
We get there and my family is as loud and crazy as usual, I’m so happy some things never change. My cousins all embraced the Irishman’s children, welcoming them and even asking if they would be back next year.
When we were leaving my cousin Cindy hugged each one and told them welcome to the family.
I asked the Irishman’s son how he had liked being there, and here is a direct quote from him: “Angie your family is crazy, not the scary kind of crazy, the kind of crazy you want to be around again.”
I believe the world would be a better place if all families had the philosophy of no child left behind.