First of all, if you didn’t know this about me already….my maiden name was Hamm. (This is where you get to elbow each other and grin when you think I’m not looking and say, “Hamm? Her maiden name was Hamm?!”)
(If you think that’s funny…listen to this. My brother married a girl who’s last name was Egging. Yes, brought together in Holy Matrimony…Hamm and Egging.)
Anyway, none of that is important except for the fact that for the reunion we’re getting together with the Hamm side of the family, and the event has been named the “Hamm Bash”.
And that is what I’m very grateful for this Gratituesday! The Hamm Bash!
It’s a reunion of my dad’s siblings (he’s the youngest of nine) and all of their families. So there are aunts and uncles and cousins and kids and babies all over the place. It’s a blast.
We have a pinata every year for the kids, an auction, we sing together, eat tons of yummy food, catch up on the year and do a lot of laughing.
I’m so looking forward to it…and also so sad I can hardly stand to think about it. There will be two empty seats this year where my cousins Gary and Kim were supposed to sit.
Between last year’s Hamm Bash and this one, I’ve become so much closer to my cousins Kim, Jayme, Sally and Laura through blogging. Starting about March, I began looking forward to the Hamm Bash SO MUCH…picturing how we’d all see each other and run to each other and hug and scream and start talking about silly blogging stuff.
And then Gary and Kim were killed…and all the rest of us got to see each other a month early. While we did run to each other…it was a much different kind of reunion than the one I had pictured.
Because the Hamm Bash is where I met and got to know Kim…the thought of her and Gary not being there hurts so badly my stomach aches.
So this reunion will be different. Being together with our family will mean so much more. The hugs will be tighter. The songs will be sung with more feeling. The conversation will mean more.
I have the most wonderful family in the world. Being with them is always so encouraging.
I can’t get there fast enough.
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Please link up and share what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday!
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Hamm isn’t such a bad last name… now Eggin that is funny!
I hope you have a wonderful time at the reunion. We are having a reunion of sorts as well this weekend.
Toni
Laura, your family sounds like so much fun. I’m sure it will be bittersweet for you all, but I’m so glad you get to be together.
I hope you have a wonderful Hamm reunion!
I’m not going to be able to make it this year since Megan’s surgery is on Monday. :-( BUT, I dropped my auction items off at Connie’s house tonight, so she’ll be bringing them with her.
Tell your boys to be prepared. Two of my auction items are “water war” kits… Water balloons (and a special nozzle to fill them up), water guns, foam water “bombs.” Oh, and they come in big buckets that can be filled with water so that it’s easier to fill everything back up. :-D
I also put together a couple of 4th of July related packages for the girls, and some special, hand-decorated reusable canvas totes for the moms. :-D Connie was impressed, so I hope the sell well! I had a lot of fun putting everything together.
Hamm.. and Egging?? What are the chances?! God has a GREAT sense of humor, don’t you think? :-)
Thank you for hosting Gratituesday. This is my first time participating.
The first family gathering after my older brother passed had a much different tone than previous years. We reminisced a great deal about his life, laughed and cried. It put our times together in perspective and it seemed we savored those moments more tenderly, more genuinely, where before we just took them for granted.
Praying for your gathering, that it will be a blessing and JOY and many beautiful memories will be made!
You are blessed more than you know, Laura. Mr. Right’s side of the family does have get-togethers occasionally, but my side doesn’t.
Enjoy your time together and celebrate your family love!
can’t wait to see you!
Okay, my maiden name was Weidman, pronounced “Wide Man”…yeah Jr. High was tough. :)
It sounds like you have a wonderful family. How special!
Linds
Well said, sister.
Crystal and I have been talking about how torn we are about the Hamm Bash. Part of us doesn’t want to go at all. Gary was one of my fave parts of the bash. I used to tell him that alllll the time and I made him go a couple of times before I had Addy to help keep me company. :)
Addy thinks its going to be the best bash ever…and she is so sad Kim has to miss it.
I’m sooo looking forward to seeing you though…
…can’t wait for that.
I hope you have a wonderful reunion! :) Again, I’m so sorry for your loss of Gary & Kim, and I pray that this will be a precious time of remembering them, too.
Blessings,
Michele :)
Hamm and Eggin..now that’s funny.
So sorry to hear about your loss, I will be praying for you and your family.
So that you all know, the other side of Laura’s family is also a lot of fun even though we don’t have a Hamm Bash. But I’ll admit that every year when I hear about the Hamm Bash, I kind of wish I were a Hamm! (Blessings to you my dear sister as you get together with your family to laugh and cry and grieve and heal.)
OK, one thing I’m thankful for this Gratituesday is that my sister-in-law (Laura’s sister-in-law too from her other fun family) is coming this Thurs-Tues. and bringing the kids. (Bro-in-law is working). The timing is perfect; I need the pick-me-up encouragement that their visit will bring.
I’m also thankful that my sister-in-law Laura is a godly woman who will (try to) contain her jealousy that we’re getting together without her.
And, I’m thankful that we’ll have our Coppinger get-together at the end of this year.
I’ve always gotten a kick out of the “Hamm Bash”. The name is great, but it sounds like a ton of fun! I hope you have a great time and that there will be peace for you all while you are missing Kim and Gary. Also can I be nosy? What kind of songs do you sing and why an auction?
Hi, Marie! I can answer your questions… We sing a lot of church songs, usually. The family is blessed to have a lot of great singers.
The auction is to raise $$ for the Hamm Fund (or whatever it’s called). Everyone brings items to sell, the kids are given $1 for every year old they are ($$ comes from the fund, goes back into the fund, and helps save the parents’ wallets), and Laura’s dad puts his auctioneering skills to work trying to get the bidders to go higher. The $$ in the fund is used to help pay for part of the Bash, provide scholarships for kids in the family who are in college, and (I think) it can also be used to help out family members who encounter a financial/medical emergency.
Sounds like a ton of fun! What a blessing to have a christian family!!