In 1986, my parents and a few of my siblings went on vacation to the beach together. I don’t know all the details since I was in high school and either spent that week wrestling or working.

I know that they headed to Bethany Beach, Del., where my sister’s in-laws had a condo. A month or so ago, I spent the week in Bethany with 47 family members and friends, marking the 25^thstraight year our family headed to Bethany for vacation.

Like many of the things my family does, I often see the trip at first glance as just something we do. We didn’t necessarily come up with this grand plan to have a massive beach week. It just started and grew to something that provided so much fun that we never considered stopping.

I can’t brush off the significance of the anniversary, however, when I talk to others. They can’t believe that a family, especially one as large as ours, has managed to go to the same place for the same vacation for this many years.

The trip doesn’t just appeal to me because I get to have a week off from work, play lots of skee-ball and spend a lot of time on the beach. I relish the times where a bunch of us stand or sit in a circle on the beach and just talk. The topic doesn’t always matter. The company makes the time worthwhile.

I wish I had an explanation. When I try to describe my family to people, I point out that we are abnormally normal. Sure, we all have quirks that might drive others within the family crazy, you move on and just learn to deal with it. There’s always someone else to talk to.

The traditions also make the trip memorable. They don’t always stay the same, but we manage to find new activities which fit easily into the plan as others lose their appeal.

For instance, we used to have a progressive party which visited each of the houses we rented for the week.  As a younger generation joined the family, however, that tradition kind of died out. That helped create Bingo night, which has brought new memories and stories to pass on for years to come.

We didn’t have any special meeting on the matter. We don’t have some rigid schedule that we debate prior to the trip. We just sit on the beach each day, figure out what we haven’t done yet, throw out new ideas people have and somehow develop a plan for that night. Then we go through the same process the next day.

If some people don’t like the general plan for an evening, they simply do their own thing or find some other people who want to do something different. No one really gets too upset about things because the activity doesn’t really matter.  We just want to do something fun together.

Like I said, abnormally normal. As I look back on these memories, I only regret that I didn’t play that big a role for the first 10 years or so, but I look forward to the next 25 years or so. I’m not sure where we’re headed though. We’ll decide that on the beach next July.