The Numbers Game

  The family reunion in Tucson September 2009 (9-09) spawned the idea of  celebrating in accordance with triple dates.  Consequently, the next year we decided to meet on 10-10-10.  That date fortunately coincided with Meet Yourself Tucson, a weekend festival of ethnic arts, food, and all around good times.  I had hoped to insert a picture of various family members who celebrated Triple Ten in the hot tub of the vacation home we rented, but couldn't find the picture.

Plans were made to meet the following year on 11-11-11 and so we did.  Veterans Day is meaningful to us personally as two dads and an uncle are veterans. Some of the group attended a Veterans Day parade and you can see how some others marked the day. 

Those of the family interested in a quasi-lottery, put $11.11 in a pot.  The last evening we spent in Tucson, son #2 came up with a way of winning the Reunion Lottery.  Each person who contributed to the pot rolled 3 dice 3 times.  The one who rolled 33 total was awarded the pot.  Contingencies were in place if we had ties for closest total or more than one person rolling the magic number.

The contingencies did not have to come into play as my favorite nephew in Chicago was the only one to roll 33.  He went home $88.88 richer.

Despite the inconveniences that our rented vacation home provided, we accomplished many of the activities we had planned:  touring the Agua Caliente park, touring the Picacho Peak State Park commemorating the westernmost Civil War battle, attending a Gaslight Theater performance, perusing antique shops, consignment stores, gazing with longing at vintage hot rods, swimming almost every day, completing a jigsaw puzzle and eating lots of good food.

The consensus of the group was that we would not try for 12-12-12 next year as 9 out of 10 are from mountainous areas or the Midwest and traveling can be treacherous at that time of year.  Maybe we’ll try for 10-11-12.

Tucson Trauma

We just spent a great week with the folks on Dean’s side of the family, which of course, included our boys.  This is the third year we have rented a vacation home in Tucson so that we can all be together—cooking, eating, playing games and making music. 

Last year we were together on 10-10-10 so it seemed appropriate to gather around 11-11-11 this year.  On top of that we continue our search for the “perfect” house to rent for our reunion week.  This year’s house was not it!!!

We rented it (sight unseen since none of us live anywhere near Tucson) because it had 5 bedrooms and 4.5 baths, and according to the website pictures, the rooms were great and the scenery awesome.  We had an outdoor pool (heated) and a pool table—all definite drawing cards.

The house was situated in a gated community which kept our Tucson relatives from actually looking at our house-for-the-week.  When we drove up the driveway to the house—and I do mean UP as it was a 45% grade in places—we discovered the key code to the garage door was not working.  We had no inkling that this was to be a harbinger of things to come.

Once inside, we started looking around in order to assign bedrooms.  There were two bedrooms in the main house with a bathroom for each as well as a half bath on the ground floor—which was unusable.  The commode was European so a part had to be ordered. (In fact, that phrase, “the part’s on order” became almost a mantra!) Since one of our group had broken his foot and was still using a walker, not having a handy bathroom was a distinct inconvenience.

The guest house which was about10-15 feet from the mean house had three bathrooms and two baths.  Once we were settled in, we checked out the TVs—none of the three worked.  Oh well, we brought games and the caretakers could hopefully get the cable company contacted in the morning.  Whoops.  There were only 8 chairs and 9 of us.

The next morning after a good night’s sleep, the caretakers came and worked on the TVs and a sluggish drain as well as bringing more chairs.  At some point after they left, the cooks in the family decided to bake something, but the oven seemed to have some sort of glitch.  When the caretaker was called, she said—“Oh that part is on order.  Use the convection oven on the side counter.” Since it was the size of a microwave, it would not accommodate a cookie sheet.  So much for that recipe!

Despite the distance from the city and all of the inconveniences, we had a good time together and made memories (including the house we will never rent again).

As for me, I looked forward to the shower at Motel 6 as we said goodbye to Tucson for the house’s master suite shower was reminiscent of a garden soaker hose. Blessings emerge in the most unlikely places.