Out of My Mind | Reunions reconnect with home

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

— Home - such an enigmatic word. The images it provokes are different for each of us and is often dependent upon our childhood.

There are people who grew up in the same house their entire life and still return to the same house when they are grown and take their children home to grandparents.

There are those who moved often. A dear friend was the child of a military officer. She moved often and seldom stayed in one city for more than two years. As adults, many children of military personnel are quick to make friends and are accustomed to change. But, they have no one single place they call home.

A teen-aged girl whose family moved away from Pea Ridge returned for a visit.

She bewailed her moving away and said: “I just want to be home.”

But, as she talked about it, she realized her mother had grown up in another state and yet had come to call Pea Ridge home.

That is something that continues to draw people to our community - the feeling of being home and the neighborliness.

A home is more than ahouse - it is a family; the house is just the building.

I remember the house of a childhood friend where none of us wanted to be ... it was beautifully decorated, but cold and unwelcoming.

We had to be extra careful around the furniture and belongings to avoid damaging or soiling anything.

Other homes, while maybe not as designer-perfect, were warm and bidding, inviting us to relax and enjoy the fellowship of those who lived there.

As we age, hopefully we realize that home is in the heart, you carry it with you wherever you go if you learn to be comfortable in your own skin, as the old-timers said.

This summer, there are many family reunions being held. Relatives gather who seldom see or talk to one another, but who enjoy reconnecting annually. One family reunion held this past weekend had more than 100people in attendance.

Sometimes when we read the history of an area, we don’t put flesh and blood on the names. The names are people, real people just like you and me, who built a life and who provided one more thread in the fabric of our community.

In two weeks, it will be the weekend of the community fair and the alumni reunion. Anyone involved in the high school, whether as an employee, a teacher or a student, is welcome. There will be other, individual class reunions, as well.

The fair, itself, is a reunion of kinds. The same people meet nightly, set up their lawn chairs and tap their feet to the music played by the bands on the stage while children run back and forth from their grandparents to the rides and various booths.

For 60 years, the community has gathered downtown.

The fair began in 1950 as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the post office - a testimony to the growing town.

The face of downtown has changed - the old school building has been razed, the Day service station is no longer there, the downtownbuildings have been painted and put to other uses - but it still operates as the hub of the community that weekend.

In the past decade or so, the size of the graduating classes of Pea Ridge High School have grown. Young people graduate high school, some go on to college, some - maybe many - move away for careers. But many return again and again.

Years ago, a man traveled to another state and met a relative he did not know existed. Ironically, the two men looked very much alike. They had learned of one another through doing genealogy research. They shared stories of mutual relatives and learned more about the family from one another. Family is more than just a blood tie, it’s a relationship.

Celebrate home and loved ones this summer and enjoy community.

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Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County.

A native of Louisiana, she moved to this area in 1980.

She has nine children and one grandchild. She can be reached at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 06/23/2010