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The most interesting
portions of our long-standing chain (that’s now buried in someone’s attic
or basement or in a landfill somewhere) were the philosophical comments
about life. To enhance our family connections, we’re creating a “Life
Lessons” book to distribute at the 2007 reunion.
Our Goals:
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Each family member writes
3-10 life lessons for our book.
Yes, that’s everyone!!!!
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o
Whether you attend the 2007
reunion or not
o Whether you are 3 years old
or 93 years old
o
Whether you wrote in the
chain faithfully or never even saw the chain
o
Whether you can know each
branch of the family tree or can barely spell Pflughoeft
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Distribute our Life Lessons
at the reunion – and as the foundation for re-vitalizing the chain.
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o
Individuals who attend the
reunion will receive a copy of all our life lessons,
o
Individuals who want to be
on the mailing list for the revitalized chain will receive our life
lessons as the chain makes its rounds through the family.
What are “life
lessons”? They’re the tips, observations, comments, conclusions, notes,
guidelines that you think are worth passing on to others. For example, we
recently returned from a trip with a group of high school students. Some
of my life lessons might be:
| Be the first
person to smile. A smile is
a great way to initiate any interaction. It’s part of our universal
language. It’s a great way to greet a clerk in a store or the person
next to you in line. Plus, it makes you feel good. |
| Write it down.
Most of the kids on the trip kept a journal. What a great way
to remember not only what happened – but their impressions. I took lots
of pictures and now it’s a bit tricky to remember the name of the statue
or the artist who created it. It’s even trickier to try to recreate my
initial impressions or what we did that weren’t captured with the
camera. And it’s nearly impossible to remember details about what
happened during a trip five years ago. |
| You own your
attitude. A scheduled tour
with 20 other people was a great way to observe how differently we each
response to adversity. We faced the possibility of a missed connection
because of a delayed flight. Some people panicked at the possibility.
Others looked at the possibility as an adventure. Still others seemed
oblivious to the possibility. I’d like to be aware and look at life as
an exciting adventure instead of looking at life as a dreaded struggle. |
The life lessons
don’t have to be profound or detailed or related. For example, if I
listed life lessons from planning a reunion, it might include:
| Learn from
other people’s experiences.
Aunt Gertie gave me the bundle of information from previous reunions and
it provided a great foundation for planning this reunion. It was fun to
review the previous invitations and it much easier to create this
invitation based on other examples. Thanks to each of you who planned
previous successful reunions and added to the bundle of information! |
| Try something
new. Leslie and crew
planned something different for the 1999 reunion – a trip to Colorado to
see Garden of the Gods. In 1972 Clara sent the invitation in German:
“Kommen Sie mit Dem Plughoeft zum Visconsin Reunion”. Walt or Marian
wrote a poem for the 1971 invitation. This year, the “new” is capturing
life lessons to revive the chain. I hope everyone sends in some
of the lessons they’ve learned! |
Get
the idea? Take the plunge. The form to complete and return is on the
next page. Please return it to me (Linda Smittle; 798 Highland Court;
Allen, TX 75002 or
linda@smittle.com) by the end of 2006. |
