Bless be the ties that bind....

Fairmont Hot Springs in beautiful BC, Canada a rag tag assortment of people came together from Australia, Netherlands, France , Canada and the US. Our common denominator is that all our parents are siblings...we are the vanderbijl tribe. The tribe from Canada were our hosts and as all 80 or so of us who gathered were given a most excellent gift...the time to get to know each other and to connect. They had us organized in activities but loose enough to just sit and chat (for me that was the only activity I could do). I have always known my family from a distance but to have them gather in one place, to plunge so completely in this gene pool was refreshing and comforting. There are the people who are related to me and if I call them up in the middle of the night to tell them I have landed in their country and need a place to stay...they will come just because I am kin. I love that...not because I would but because I can.
As a whole we see the familiarities and muse at the choices our parents made to conributee so completely into where we have all ended up. We see how our parents are aging and we wonder together what we will do. We amuse ourselves watching the next generation tumble and fall and wonder and grow. We make plans to go to Australia because that lost tribe of vanderbijls are just so cool...and not only because we have never met them but they have such a great accent. We dream about our visit to the Netherlands and think how fun to listen to the language and land of our heritage. We kick ourlseves that we haven't driven to Calgary more often to say hello to that amazing Verhoeff/vanderbijl clan of giant hearted people.
Now there are faces to names, stories to families, memories shared...ties that bind that make us so blessed.