Every year on the third Saturday of July, you can find me in a small, wooded picnic area in southwestern Pennsylvania enjoying my annual family reunion.

There can be anywhere from 50 to 100 of us on any given year, and we kick off the afternoon by sharing a huge pot luck lunch. There are games for the kids, a white elephant auction and lots and lots of talking and catching up.

I’ve watched my children as they grown to appreciate this day together. When they are little, the day is nothing more than an opportunity to run around with other kids, play on the nearby playground and sneak cookies and other treats off the food table.

As they get older, they enjoy trying to figure out how each child is related to the next. You hear lots of comments like, “He’s my cousin, but she’s my second cousin twice removed, I think” and “Your grandma is my mom’s grandpa’s sister.”

Finally, as teens, they begin to grasp the importance of the web that connects us all. Whether we talk every day on the phone or only see each other once a year at the reunion, we are still family and we cherish that connection.

From my 93-year-old grandfather, to the newest member of the family (she’s eight months old and, I believe, my second cousin twice removed), it was a wonderful day.

I hope years from now my own children are among the elders at this annual event, and that they’ll truly understand and appreciate what a family really is.