10 years is a long time to have not seen someone you may have only met once or twice before. Family members is easy and you should recognise them, but with their friends it becomes a lot harder and it is like solving a puzzle.
This weekend we had a family do celebrating an 80th birthday party which as you might guess was full of old people. There were around 120 people at this luncheon party and the scary part is I apparently knew all of them having seen them the last time around 10 years ago.
Houses in South Africa tend to be much larger than those in Europe so having a do for 120 people was easily accommodated at one of the family members homes. This was not a bring your drink type of party as in these types of cases the host covers the food and drink costs.
Some were easy as you can tell by the certain features on their face or their general appearance, but others it was like having to crack a code. Worryingly many came to greet you by name and there were some people I had to ask others for clues who they were.
The one thing in life you are guaranteed of is we are all going to age and one day die, but for some reason some people age gracefully whilst others don't. I can remember my school 30 year reunion I attended a few years back and again some people were obvious not having changed much at all besides maybe the grey hair or no hair which added to the guessing game. I mentioned at the time maybe it would have been a good idea to have some name tags even though you do know everyone and just not sure who is who in the zoo kind of thing.
Unlike all the others who live in the area who see each other on a regular basis we are all so busy with our lives having these get togethers every 10 years or so makes for an interesting and sometimes awkward catch up.
This 80th birthday party was no different and when the drink is flowing it is amazing what unfolds. The last one was 9 or 10 years ago and what was funny was one of the guys wives we knew was definitely not the faithful type and they have since divorced. The hello's were not normal hello's with her and the more drink she consumed the more interesting the ight became. The guys tend to stick together and it was more for protection than catching up.
Last night we had a similar experience once bottles of tequila were being consumed and a few of us sought protection in numbers until that lady and her husband had left. An old family friend who was their hairdresser and about our age and had no idea she was like that. Family functions take on a whole new level of becoming the prey and you need to be switched on at all times.
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Sounds like you had a great time playing dodgems with names and people attending, those exceptionally large family gatherings are sure to bring a smile or two!
The last two have been great fun with plenty of dodgems and has been an eye opener.
Our family is small, larger extension broke away years ago with family disputes, would walk past them on the street and not know who they are.
That does happen and we have avoided certain parts of the family for 10 years. Disputes I think are common in most families as we have seen some serious treachery in the various businesses over the years.
Time is passing very fast and fast and when meeting everyone like this after a long time, everyone gets very emotional and all the old memories come alive.