Recently I took a trip to Las Vegas with my brother Brad. Before I delve into that adventure, let me give you some background information. I am the oldest of six children, Brad and I live three hours apart and see each other often. The remaining siblings are scattered across the country, I haven’t seen some of them in over 10 years.

About eight months ago, I came up with the idea of meeting monthly via Zoom, on the fourth Sunday of the month at 7 pm. That seemed to work for everyone, it was wonderful to see each other via zoom and catch up on what was going on in our lives and families lives as well. For the most part, the meetings were well attended. Of course, life occasionally got in the way and at times one or more were unable to make the Zoom.

In April of this year, I suggested we all have a reunion, as there had been long periods since we were all together. In all honesty, I had been thinking about the fact we were all getting older, I will be 73 in less than two weeks. Thank God, I am healthy with no chronic medical issues, but we don’t possess the power to see the future. I felt the time was now!

All enthusiastically agreed and the next day I was looking for flights and hotels. I found a great deal on both and shared the information with my siblings. Brad and I decided it would be feasible for us to travel together and booked our flights and hotel the following week.

As the weeks progressed, on our monthly call we would talk about the reunion. Then all hell broke loose! One sibling had to have surgery, another’s spouse was ill, car repair knocked out the third and inflation killed the trip for a fourth. I was soooo disappointed, after all the planning and anticipation, only Brad and I would be going.

The next part of this story requires more background information. My first husband was Charles H. Bufford III, and we had one son together, Charles H. Bufford IV. The family, even after we divorced continued to treat me as a family member. One Aunt and three of my son’s uncles reside in Vegas. I knew without a doubt I would see them during my visit to Las Vegas.

The second day we were in town, I contacted John, one of the uncles, he came, picked up Brad and me, and went to Darlene’s (aunt) where everyone was gathering. We were catching up, and having a few drinks, when to my surprise in walked an aunt, Linda, who lives in California, and her son Steven Jr.

I nearly burst into tears, the last time I saw Stephen Jr., he was bout 7 years old, and standing before me was a full-grown man of 52. He also introduced his fiancée, who accompanied him. His fiancée has a timeshare in Vegas, and since they were coming that way, he had asked his mom, Linda, if she wanted to visit with Darlene. I was overwhelmed with emotion; I felt the love of the entire family even though we had not been together in quite some time.

We spent the next few days getting together at one house or the other. Sunday evening, we all went out to dinner for the last hurrah! The next night John prepared dinner for Brad and me before taking us to the airport.

You may be asking, what lesson I learned? I have learned life is a balance between what we can control and what we can’t. You must learn to live comfortably between effort and surrender. At the beginning of my Vegas journey, I was a little bummed out because there would be no reunion. Little did I know I would be Blessed by the Almighty and have a reunion with family from California that I hadn’t seen in