The Gathering of the Tribes

On the day of the big gathering, a got a call from Jewel. She and her husband Gary, along with Rob and Pat, went off to the Hingham Bay Club, which we had reserved ahead of time, to make sure they could find the place. Well, a tiny detail arose -- that being, the place was shut, as the sign posted on the door said, "As of Oct 30, Until Further Notice".

Yikes!

About 32 people were headed to this place in all of 45 minutes, the place I pulled out of a hat (okay, yanked off the web), and asked everyone I knew in the entire clan to meet at was shut down.

"How about we, uhm, ah, yeah,... we could meet at the Clarion and do brunch there. I think they're open till two o'clock."

And so, as Dicky Pearson was later to describe it, the family gathering started out as a restaurant treasure hunt. Jewel put a sign on the door directing folks to the Clarion, and I ran down to the front desk to find out if they could accommodate us. Note, this was after I suggested to Jewel that we send people there.

I got down stairs, told the guy at the desk the situation, and the manager said, "Yes, I can set you up a table area in about five minutes."

And then, they came!!!