Blog Bio Mom Scheidies is gone but we still enjoy getting together as a family
Daughter Cassie & hubby Kurt with Jiggs & Bert
Since my in-laws, my husband’s parents Jiggs & Bert passed on, family gatherings haven’t been the same. For years, we followed his Mom’s pattern of a Scheidies weekend gathering the weekend after Thanksgiving in the fall and a gathering the last weekend in April.
In the fall, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a Saturday night potluck at the Scheidies farm and brunch the next morning in Minden with Keith’s folks. We also celebrated Christmas—with gifts for the children, birthdays, and any special event around that time period. In the spring we celebrated Easter, birthdays, and graduations.
Covid forced us to get together via Zoom for a couple of gatherings. While I was thankful for the technology and I was glad to visit with family, Zoom isn’t the same as face-to-face conversations, smiles, and those all-important hugs.
We have gotten together, but too often in the last couple of years, it has been for a memorial service or special acknowledgments, etc. Finally, we held a Scheidies gathering, this time in June 2022, that mirrored the ones Mom Scheidies initiated.
On Saturday night we met at the Scheidies’ farm now owned by Keith’s younger brother and sister-in-law Randy and Nancy who are raising their two grandkids.
Uncles went outside to keep an eye on the little ones. They also gave the kids rides on the 3-wheeler and even on a burro (Someone took a picture of our 5-year-old granddaughter, Ellery, on a burro. She has the biggest smile.)
The kids also got to swim in the above-ground pool on the side porch. Inside, we talked, laughed, remembered, and hugged. We also took time to see who wanted what from two tubs of items from the folks that had not been divided up.
Of course, we had potluck with lots of good food. Only a few stayed for the traditional late-night card game at the farm. The rest of us returned to our homes or hotel rooms for the night.
When the folks lived, we met at their home in Minden where we made eggs and bacon and supplied other breakfast/brunch items. We ate, and hung out until it was time to disperse to our homes—West to Colorado, East to Lincoln, Omaha, and Florida, for Randy and Nancy a short drive North of Minden to their farm and, for us 20 minutes to Kearney. The folk’s home in Minden has been sold. This year we rented the Mitzi Center at Yanney Park in Kearney for our brunch. The park offers so much for the family—including climbing the tower.
We ate, laughed, remembered, and took pictures. We’d gotten together as Mom always wanted for her family. This time without being brought together by death and tragedy. Now the big debate—when should we hold our next get-together? Looks like we’re returning to the last weekend in April. I can’t wait.
© 2022 Carolyn R Scheidies
Published in the Kearney Hub as “Mom gone: we still get together” 7/28/2022
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