Family time, and times of our lives

 THIS PAST WEEKEND the crazy Hart clan descended on Raleigh, N.C. for the wedding of my sister's son Matt and his beautiful bride, Meghan.

 By my bad memory, it was the first time in about 15 years all the Hart cousins were together. It. Was. Glorious!

Dr. Emily Hart!

Most of us stayed in a big Air BnB Farmhouse in Hillsborough, not far from the wedding site and about half an hour from the Raleigh-Durham airport. Gotta thank Steve for driving us all over the place, even though he's directionally-challenged like our mother. "Embrace the U turn!" became the weekend theme. It's a good thing we realize how hard it is to turn left instead of right. I give him credit for getting his kids at midnight and my daughter, Emily, at 1 a.m. Saturday after her flight got delayed.

Doug Sanderson, Matt's father, presided at Saturday's ceremony. It was phenomenal, beside a pond on a gently sloping lawn on a sprawling horse farm. The ceremony was short and powerful, like the prior two Hart cousin weddings. Take note, future brides and grooms! You don't have to have a big church and 90 minutes of blah blah blah to get married. If it floats your boat, so be it. Doug was magnificent and somehow held it together until the very end.

It was also nice to see Opa Hart, who lives nearby, be with his kids and grandchildren for the first time in .... ages. Steve and I had lunch with him Friday at his favorite Mexican place. Aside from losing his teeth, he's getting around pretty well for an 87 year old.

The wedding reception was also outside under a big tent. The DJ was incredible and of course the Hart cousins and most of their parents never left the dance floor. Even the old man here had to jump in a little later - how can you not move when hearing Abba's Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!????? Cousins Brooke, Natalie, Riley and Joshua were the catalysts, with Emily right beside them. I was in awe watching them hoot and holler.

Life and circumstance dictate where you live. The four Hart siblings scattered like the wind from the 1980s in Grand Rapids, Mich. None of us looked back. We are all content with what we do and where we are. Steve and Stephanie settled in Phoenix, Charys and David in Denver, Kathy and Doug in Louisville, then North Carolina. We were never particularly close, but two things galvanized us - the death of our brother, Greg, in 2002, and the sudden passing of our mother, Virginia, in 2005.

The first Hart Sibling Summit was 20 years ago this Labor Day Weekend in Phoenix. The next year I brought Emily, and there were several following Labor Day gatherings where Emily (Big Cousin) had a field day with all her Little Cousins.

We vowed to try and do it every year, but the whole kids growing up and going to college and getting jobs thing got in the way. That's just an excuse. But it's real.

Steve's son Riley married Sophie in October 2023. Charys' son Josh married Maddie last August. Matt and Meghan hitched it up, and in two weeks Steve's daughter, Dr. Natalie Hart, marries Ryan in Flagstaff, AZ. I'll be at a very different family gathering that weekend and hate to miss it.

It's easy to take family for granted. The dynamic is much different when you live closer. There is regret from distance. But it makes getting together so much fun. And, after 48 hours, you go home and sleep for almost 10 hours, like I did last night.

I treasure family time, however brief and infrequent it is. Let's do it again! After we all get some sleep, of course.

From left, Hart siblings Charys, Stephen, Kathy and some dork.