Today’s post focuses on two days of meeting new family - well new for me anyway. Saturday was the main reunion that we had come to the Netherlands for; and Sunday we visited with my Grandmother’s sister, who had been unable to make the trip on Saturday, as her husband is dealing with some medical issues. It was amazing to meet everyone, and once again I’m blown away by how well everyone speaks English!
Saturday August 31st
Today was the big family reunion day! We spent the morning with Edwin and family, having a relaxing morning. Some of the family from yesterday were still around and so we continued to catch up. Just after lunchtime, Mom, Mackenzie and I wished every one farewell, and we drove out to Dedesmsvaart for the second reunion of the trip.
This one was with the family from Grandma’s side, and ended up being a little larger than the event yesterday. There were around 20 people at the event, none of whom I had met before, or at least remember meeting before. Fortunately, most of them spoke very good English. That made it easy to spend time with many of them, get introduced, and have some nice conversations.
They had really planned for the big day, as they do this reunion every two years. We arrived a little after 2 o’clock, and everyone was eating dessert and drinking coffee, which we found a little odd. But apparently, this is the order of things. After that, they brought out drinks and snacks and the afternoon continued. Around 6 o’clock a fully catered meal was brought in, which was excellent, and we had a nice dinner with everyone. More importantly, there was a second round of dessert! Around 9 o’clock everyone started to break up and depart and we drove back to Edwin’s. It was a really nice day and we had a nice opportunity to meet that side of the family.
Sunday September 1st
Sunday was to be another day of hanging out and meeting new family. Today started out quite relaxing, as we hung out with Edwin and Carolien in the garden after having some breakfast. From there, it was the hour drive back to Dedemsvaart. Today we were meeting up with my mom’s aunt and uncle, who were not well enough to come to the reunion yesterday. They were hosting us for an afternoon visit and some dinner.
Prior to meeting up with the family, we had left a little early so that we could visit some places around Dedemsvaart that were significant to us in our family. Both of my grandparents had grown up in this place. Our first stop was a building that used to be the Townhall, and was the place that my grandparents got married. We had a little trouble finding it at first, but eventually found the spot, and had a quick peek. It’s now a music venue, but it was kind of cool to see.
The old town hall where Grandma and Grandpa were married.
After that, we drove by the place where my mother was born. The house that she was born in, is no longer there, but there’s a new house at the same address. We stopped out front just to take a quick photo, and were quickly accosted by the current owner, who was very unhappy that we took a photo of the house. It was very strange.
The church in the graveyard.
After that, we drove out to the cemetery where some of my family is buried. The cemetery was out in the countryside, outside of Dedemsvaart. It was down this small, backcountry lane in a nicely forested area. Not surprisingly, it was very quiet and we were the only people there.
We easily found the grave of Mom’s aunt and uncle, as it was almost right inside the main entrance. Finding a couple of the others was a little more difficult. Mom had an older sister that had only survived a couple of weeks, and she was buried in a mass grave.
We found the grave marker and found her name on it. We were also trying to find Mom’s grandparents, but didn’t have much luck as we didn’t know where in the cemetery they were buried. It was nice to wander the cemetery, as it provided a bit of a connection to this part of the family.
It was a beautiful day, and the cemetery was quite pretty, so it was easy to spend some time wandering and checking out the gravestones. The dates covered a huge range in time, from the 1800s (maybe older) to modern times.
After checking out these three locations, we drove over to the house where we were meeting up with the family for the day.
My great aunt has a very strong resemblance to my grandmother, and it was amazing to see. Her home, her appearance and here mannerisms are very, very similar to Grandma’s. It brought back a lot of fun memories. Her husband, unfortunately, was not the best of health. But he was a real trooper, and was clearly very happy that we had come for the visit. He spent to whole day with us, and ever though he didn’t speak any English, it was pretty clear that he loved having all of the family around and he was very, very happy to see Mom.
Oom Klaas and Tante Lummie
We met quite a number of younger generation of family whom spoke excellent English, and we had a great time getting to know each other and hanging out for the day. As usual, there was lots of food, and we had a really nice afternoon. We took a bunch of pictures and created some new memories. We stayed and had a late dinner and then everyone started to head out.
Back Row: Dave, Dillen, Grietje, Tygo, Jeroen, Warren, Anmarie, Mackenzie, Ronny. Mom
Front Row: Tom, Oom Klaas, Rachel, Tante Lummie, Melissa
As it was still light outside, we decided to swing by the cemetery again. My aunt had given Mom better directions to find her grandparents grave. We found it this time and so it was good that we were able to finally see it.
We drove back to Sellingen, where we sat in the back patio into the evening with Edwin and Carolien and had a final drink with them. They have been amazing hosts and it’s been so nice to been able to spend so much time with them.