went to my Sis's place for thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and i got thinking of family gatherings of the past....for a while i was the kid, the younger generation, but marriage, kids, for  the longest time we were the middle generation, and know with the passage of time i find myself in the older generation, the last generation, my elders in our extended family have all passed....at one time all our immediate family was close by, holiday meals were a house full....yesterday there were only 8 for dinner...family now is spread out hither and yon........