We always held our family reunion at mom’s house.
They had a large pavilion that seats fifty people, and the bathrooms were close to the pavilion.
Last year, mom and dad sold their house and bought something smaller. They said it was time to downsize. The only house with an area large enough to hold fifty to one hundred people, was mine. We had a large field near the house, and all we had to do was rent a large tent and several large picnic tables. My parents said about renting some portable air conditioning units for the tent, but even they weren’t enough to keep people cool when the tent was in the middle of an open field. The kids were fine with running out in the sun, but our family had a lot of elderly people. My husband opened the enclosed patio for anyone who wanted to enjoy the air conditioning. He put a sign up to the door that no one between the ages of five and forty were allowed inside, unless you had a medical reason. I chuckled at that one. There was no way I was going to stay outside in the heat when I could go into my patio and enjoy the air conditioning. I told my husband that my mother and grandmother wanted me to sit and play poker with them. He knew it was a sorry excuse, but the only one I could come up with. I could hear music coming from the tent, and remembered there were portable air conditioners inside. We danced, played cards and games, and enjoyed the air conditioning in the tent, until long after midnight.