We're planning a return to family roots next month. What had been an annual reunion at the beach for a few days every July in the 90's somehow morphed into a "girl's only retreat" at the beach we had all once enjoyed. This happened around the turn of the century, and the sudden evolution from "family" reunion to "one-half-of-the-family" reunion without much, if any, input from the excluded half was a bit of surprise. Sadly.
Oh, I don't begrudge 'the girls' getting together, exclusive of us men, but in their doing so, it seemed to end the whole family reunion thing. And I thought we were all having so much fun back in the nineties. Maybe, if I researched this deeply enough, I could trace the roots of this revolt to George Bush. Bush does seem to be the source of most of the problems we presently 'enjoy', so I'm sure the "Great Uniter, Not A Divider" was probably somehow responsible.
But happily I report that after a couple of years of female exclusive beach retreats, the family seems to be returning as a unit. It began gradually, i.e., after a few days of "one-half-of-the-family" reunions by the girls, they let word out that the men would be welcomed on or after such and such a day. It was almost as if they had missed their husbands!
So what has any of this to do with today's topic, "Mexican Peckers" you might wonder? (Which you would be justified in asking.) Hardly anything. But my wife and I, having skipped the mutated, evolving reunions of the past 5 or 6 years are planning a return this summer. And therein lies the source of today's topic. For there are nieces and nephews that have done a lot growing up in the interceding years. There are ones we haven't even met yet. And it is with the little ones in mind, that I went shopping this morning on the web for ideas for some presents for these new and growing family members.
I haven't found anything for the nieces and nephews yet. But I did stumble across this intriguing little toy. It's made of cardboard and you assemble it with paste. Then you crank it and the parts move! I've never seen this before, but I thought it clever. Maybe not as a gift for our new nieces, but as a kind of gag gift for folks with very strong opinions on what is undoubtedly going to be one of the hot issues in the upcoming rigged elections this November.
And I thought this might be a cute gift for those folks willing to forgo such items in their diets as lettuce, strawberries, beef, pork and chicken, and ignore unmown lawns, unrepaired roofs and new housing developments left undeveloped for lack of laborers while cultivating nine foot fences and armed troops securing the borders 'neath unmanned surveillance blimps (perhaps eventually replaced with US military, missile equipped Predator drones like those in Iraq?).
It's just a little something they can put together in a few minutes and alleviate their anxieties and relieve their frustrations with until such time the new America is in place. They can crank up their little Mexican Peckers! toy. But just a word of caution. Take care with your passions. After all, it's only made of cardboard.
2 comments:
Leave it to Dada to come up with Mexican Peckers for Father's Day! And I'm glad the fam reunion is returning to co-ed...
Having been to a few family gatherings, I've noticed they tend to break up into the boys and the girls naturally (I've never seen my aunts have to kick the boys out of the kitchen on Thanksgiving; the trick sometimes is to get them back to the table for the boid while the game is on!). Then again, I don't believe much in enforced segregation of any sort...
But I'm glad you didn't get your feelings too badly hurt over the girls wanting to have a private hen party for a few years; it's too cool, that the pendulum is swing back, tho'. Being a woman that my other delicately describes as 'that other way', I always enjoyed standing at the door between the living room and the kitchen on Thanksgiving, so I could join in the gossip with the girls, or yell with the boys "he was out of bounds! Are the refs BLIND?"
Nothing like family, I always say.
And I hope you had a great Dada's Day.
dada, I like the colors of the mex peck toy regardless of any political innuendo, although I find myself doubting the "pecker" moniker applies to these hens!
mel, at least you found a place (twixt kitchen & tv) where you could be yourself! For years, I failed to find commonality with either group at my family reunions. Usually ended up escaping with a few cousins to zone out listening to our kind of music. Funny thing: those cousins & I drifted far apart, so I really missed out on a great opportunity to get to know my aunts & uncles better. Now, I find I'm the older aunt at these reunions trying hard not to repeat those same errors. Ain't life a kick? D.K.
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