The dreaded family reunion...

So my mother and my father separated when I was 5 years old. When I was 10 I found my father and he secretly gave me a key to his apartment and I would regularly visit him. I'm still not sure if I ever told my mom that.. maybe I will. But when I was 19 my dad died. Even a little more background on me... My mom has been married 5 times.. She's been married to my step-father for about 22 years now and she was married to my father before him and 3 times before that.. hence 5. Well my older brothers' dad died a few years before mine and while my dad was in the hospital my mom brought me and my younger sister to visit him. Sitting in the cafeteria we weren't talking a whole lot and silence sometimes makes me uncomfortable but in the moment I threw something out hoping it'd brighten the mood. I said to my mom "Well... At least your doing better than 50 percent of your ex-husbands..." I nailed it.. She and my younger sister both started laughing and we just talked... it was great. Well I get a text from my younger sister telling me that there's a family reunion coming up. Let's see.. I haven't seen most of my father side of the family in let's say about 15 years. I went to an uncle's funeral a couple months ago and 2 cousins didn't even recognize me. Well to speed things along, last minute, I decided to go. I told people that my sister was guilting me into it when really... I think I was guilting myself. I mean... I had no reason not to go. So it was in Niagara Falls and I drive up to find out that my sister's phone is off and that I have no idea where in the park they are. So I sit and finally about 15 minutes later she answered.. I was parked approximately 30 feet from where she was standing waiting for me. So I come over to the rest of the family and had to be re-introduced to some and introduced to others for the first time. As I'm standing there I hear someone yell "WHO WANTS TO PLAY KICKBALL????" In my head I'm thinking I'm gonna stick around for 30 minutes tops and bail. Well I again starting guilting myself saying I wouldn't leave my sister and her four daughters there so I tried my best to lighten up a little. Well her girls started to get a little rowdy, a 7 yr old, a 5 yr old, a 2 yr old and less than a year old, they're a handful. So she decides it's time to go home. I don't know where it came but she asked if I was leaving too and I heard the words come out "no... I think I'm gonna stick around a bit." We hugged and off she went. So I, a little less uncomfortably, went and grabbed an italian sausage and sat down next to one of two cousins that wouldn't stop talking to me. I figured it was better to talk uncomfortably to someone than sit in a crowd not talking to anyone. I realized I wasn't uncomfortable. Just because I haven't seen anyone in years didn't mean I wasn't family. My cousin Samantha told me they play kickball at every family picnic and now that she had my info my sister and I could come to more picnics. I was actually happy that she said that. I stayed about an hour and everyone was getting ready to leave. Just as I was about to leave they decided to take the family picture. I wanna say there was about 45 people. I said my goodbyes to my aunts, unlces, and the cousins that wouldn't stop talking to me and went to my car. But, just before my sister left she tells me that they gave her my fathers ashes.. I said "ummmmm... he died like what.. 9 years ago???" And she's like yeah. We discussed what was gonna happen but I found that odd that his ashes were held onto for 9 years to be given to us. Now that I look back on it I don't think her and I, as a 19 yr old and a 16 year old, would really have known what to do with them. After it was over and I was on my way home.. I was totally glad I went. I didn't talk to all of my cousins and the beginning was a little uncomfortable. Some of them were probably just as uncomfortable with me being there... the estranged cousin.. But it turned out to be good experience and one more thing to prove me and my sister are alike.. As she was getting into her van I said, "I gotta get out of here..... I gotta go to starbucks." And she said "... oh i know... I'm stopping at Tim Hortons on the way.." haha. I'm kinda looking forward to next year.. and before I forget... R.I.P. Daddy...