After my last parent passed away, I realized I only been in contact with my scattered siblngs for issues such as our parents' health declining, their passing and then settling their estate. NO FUN TIMES, no good pictures, nothing relaxing or 'great to see you" without saying "wish it was under better conditions". I was the person who did NOT move away from hometown to a different corner of our great country ... I still had contact with our extended local family they grew up, but they did not.
I decided we needed a new venue .... so out went my EMAIL invite to "MY BIRTHDAY PARTY WEEK". 1250+ miles from our childhood home .. in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I would provide the rooms, my start/check out dates (their stay could be up to 10 days) but gave them the option to come or leave ANY time for any length of time during that 10 day period I had the rooms booked.
Sent emails .. no replies or no phone calls for over 3 DAYS! Finally, my youngest sister called .... asking if I was "Okay or some serious reason I wanted to get everyone together". I told her, it would a "The No Funeral, Sick or Dying Parent Sibling" trip ... but "My Birthday Party Week!. They had spent the prior 3 days emailing and calling each other ... why ELSE would I say "BE THERE!" in my "Come to Ft Lauderdale" email .. unless there was something seriously wrong with me.
We had a great time .. no kids, no inlaws, no adult friends ... just us 5 siblings plus one spouse. And everyone wanted to DO IT AGAIN.
And afterwards, we did start doing MORE things together .. but as adult siblings AND in different combinations ... expanded to their spouses, the nieces and the nephews. For example, the large family Alaskan cruise for youngest sister 25th wedding anniversity. Or a niece's winter wedding on Mt Hood, Orgeon or the other niece's wedding at a California winery. Or my year of "babysitting" my suddenly widowed TX sister 1500 miles away (Food & Wine at WDW was one of our trips) ... as she had already put in her retirement paperwork (she had no children). Or the just 16yo niece who graduated high school but too young to drive or live away at college ... she did the perfect, "I don't know." multiple times. Just ONE New Year Eve's Night in Key West, FL ... days after she returned home, I get a phone call from her mother (my sister)... "What did you do to her?" Her mother's new issue: the kid had become a happy, confident, going 'out & about' young adult ... singing to herself ... after her returning home. My sister's issue with me --- "How did you do that in a week?" My answer, "Ask your brother!" .. NYE in Key West was his idea. That niece is a psychologist now ... and I am her still her favorite aunt .. A title I earned on that South Florida trip. ... I was waiting for her when she arrived in Ft Lauderdale ... just where I promised I would be in the airport. And I taught her how to ride and use the Broward County Public Bus system. She today has no car .. takes public transportion.
My niece's fear about me NOT being at the airport. My youngest sister 'forgot' to pick her up at the Baltimore Airport a year or so earlier. That sister swears there was an accident on the interstate. My niece borrowed someone cell phone to call her California mother 3000 miles away. In total panic.
Same (forgetful?) sister who left her 4 yo son at my house because he refused to get in her van to go home. 130+ miles from her home. As for her son, he was one happy camper staying at my house; but his mother was WAY HAPPIER he was miles away; his father did adjusted but to proclaim 5 night later, "Maybe it is NOT a bad idea for him to say with your sister for a few more days?" I had just gotten him to agree to "GO HOME" a few hours earlier in the evening ... emailing my sister that he was going home.... "to go to the (grandparent's) condo on the beach for one week AND then, he was coming back for 1 week to stay again with you." I said, "Right On" but I was thinking, "Over your Mother's dead body will she EVER bring you back to NJ". His mother did quickly change her mind ... he came back for next 6+ summers. He still chooses to sit next to me at every family meal. And he started college last September.