Family Reunion Speech

Who could have wondered the blood that runs in one’s veins is similar to that of his associates under this same roof today? Before you ask that one next to you, I assure you… I’m also a GANZON!

You knew nothing of us and we knew less about you, but this doesn’t mean we’re not related or we’ll never be one. It’s a great honor to be representing this bond of generations, having this responsibility to capture your attention and think about the significance of this event. My only appeal probably is … for you to relate to somebody you’re related to.

I wish that I could give you the detailed history of our clan from the very spot it hailed from as we were led to believe that we originated from this and that. However this would bore you to death as names had never hit your ears before… but I can tell… while growing old, family history becomes an interesting subject matter since a tree without roots will fall over.

Our number is overwhelming if you talk about unmanageable time, distance in miles, budget-constraints, pre-planned excuses, and other usual Ganzonite issues that could hamper one’s desire to participate. After the lapses for decades, this is the best time to get landed on your own soil, breathe the same air that your parents and grandparents breathe, and rub with the same skin whilst calling a place truly a HOME!

I admit having challenges in gathering folks although the planning stage had taken months. Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning…thus thanks to those who have helped me out in imagining, more so in initiating.

Some of you have voyaged across continents without putting this first ever Grand Reunion invitation into a backseat. Some of you have taken a “pedicab,” left your household chores behind, just to fuse with us yet some others prefer to have a reunion with their pets, instead.

The purpose of this gathering is clear – to establish our relationship (and chismiz in particular); to exchange old/rotten stories; to recap for all those who have forgotten; to show how fabulous one is; to genuinely connect with us; to proudly share one’s highs and lows… and to compare DNA, too! Consequently, if you’re doubtful about the faces around you, have your DNA test results right away (jest)!

Attached to my name is an honor of being that connecting link between the east and the west – the north and the south, it was by motivation of my desire to record the family history and to establish the family tree that gives me this position of credit today. Staying in my birthplace my whole life really pays off… Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.

Truly this is one of the proudest events of my life – to tell you the story of the GANZONS by my sheer presence without telling the litanies, whereas renewing the broken ties and re-establishing ourselves on firmer foundation of love and family brotherhood is part of the agenda.

Our parents’ parents were brilliant pioneers who had made “Ganzon” worth mentioning on the pages of our history books, as those pioneers and heroes were the friends and associates of our own blood… and when we speak of them and recount their valorious deeds we must include our own name with them, as they altogether made this land a habitation for us.

I am swollen with pride to say you are indeed my own … I am yours … and this name is US!

Let’s welcome one another to the First ever Grand Reunion !!! Again, THANKS FOR COMING!

~ scribbled for Dr. Denfield Ganzon ~