It was twenty-five years after the war's end and her dad was still holding the M*A*S*H 4077th reunions. Many of the adults she grew up with now donned grey hair, but there were a few others that came who were her age.
She was glad that she got to see her extended family every year or so. Sometimes more often in the case of a few invitations or special events. But there were a few more... unhappy cases.
One such being a few years back when her father got a letter from Colonel Potter asking them to come out to Missouri for Mildred's funeral. And unfortunately, his funeral a few years after that.
The loss of the Colonel and his wife had struck many of the others hard. Erin herself found it especially difficult, since she had always looked up to Sherman and Mildred as grandparents.
Several others had been lost along the way. Back in the reunion of '65 they got the bad news from Rizzo that Igor was gone, an accident with a drunk driver back in April.
And then when she heard the news from Aunt Margret...
But Erin learned to grieve for the family that she'd lost, and enjoy the time she has with everyone else still with her.
She had been quite excited the first time her dad asked her to help with planning the reunions. Ever since she was 14 she'd help him write and mail the letters. She even made sure to keep writing Frank, even when there wasn't a reunion.
With the twenty-fifth reunion just a month away, Erin was finding herself without the time to help her mom and dad plan everything out. Her shift at the local hospital was tight for the rest of the week, but she hoped after that she'd have the time to help them out.
Her responsibly and position as a doctor made her parents proud. BJ was a little apprehensive at first, but soon realized Erin was a strong and smart girl who could take the stress of working at a hospital. Charles was especially proud of Erin when he had heard that she got a job as head of thoracic surgery.
She was always greatful for Charles' support. After moving to Connecticut when she was eighteen in order to attend Yale, she sent a letter to the Bostonian telling him that she had made the move to New England.
Charles had gone to visit her shortly after receiving the letter, and was most pleased to find out that she moved out to New England in order to attend Yale University. Charles thought that Harvard was better any day, but he was extremely proud of her achievement.
She had recently moved back to Mill Valley after her graduation, just a year ago, in fact. Erin was very glad to see everyone else again after being absent for most of the reunions during her nine years of education.
And now that it was 1978 and she was twenty-seven, she'd be expecting another year and another reunion.
She just wished she hadn't missed so much during those nine years, or gone though some of the things that she had... the funerals were hard to bear. She supposed that was the hard part about loving so many people... you lose them someday.
