60 Years!

Three weeks ago I went down to my maternal grandparents' farm in Illinois to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. The entire family was there for a family picture. We did the same thing 10 years ago for their 50th. Despite the alarming number of bees present at the outdoor park where the photographs were taken (I have an irrational fear of bees and other stinging insects, which didn't seem so irrational after my sister and my cousin's fiance were stung), everything went well. We went to a nice restaurant in Peoria afterwards and by all accounts the night went splendidly.

My mom's side has a definite Norman Rockwell-esque quality to it. My grandparents live on the family farm in the old farmhouse pictured above, where my grandfather was born. My uncle lives a quarter mile up the road, across from my late great-aunt's farm. I'm related to just about everyone in those parts. In fact, my great-great-great-grandfather, Michael Streitmatter, founded the town in 1848! What's always been disconcerting is that I have never been able to remember most of the extended family - third and fourth cousins and such. There are simply too many of them (my mother had 42 aunts and uncles). But they all know me - we're the only ones from Wisconsin.

Here's a picture of my sister with my grandparents the day after the dinner.