The Current Borlin Generation

Borlin Family Today

The Borlin Family as of today (January 2021) numbers 17 members. All three sons of David and Shari married and proceeded to have families of their own through the millennium. A total of 9 grandchildren, 4 boys and 5 girls, with an age separation at 16 years now carries on the Borlin Family History into the 21st century.

• Scott and Kerri SCHERTZ of Washington, IL were the first to marry in October of 1997. Reese was born in 2000, Shelby 2003, Jake 2006 and Charlie in 2007.

• Jon and Vicki VAN METER of Oak Grove, MO married in August of 1998. Maxx was born in 2002 and Tobi was born in 2004.

• Jeff and Amy MEYER of Chesterfield, MO married in May of 2003, Lilly was born in 2007, Lucas was born in 2010 and Lucy was born in 2014

During the years between 1997 through 2016, the "BORLIN Cousins" became a source of entertainment and joy for their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles. Watching the BORLIN Cousins grow up, laugh, play and love each other is what any family could hope for. Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and vacations together were very special moments for the family to come together. And they still continue today.

Borlin Holidays

Holidays were always a special time for the BORLIN family. For Shari and David, Thanksgiving and Christmas were the annual holiday gatherings at the BORLIN home (hotel) in Chesterfield. Shari and David would host the entire family (and sometimes extended family too) over long weekends, including huge meals and late evenings of card or board games, intermixed with a bourbon slushes and homemade chocolates. Shari would often mention how much she loved looking out the front door and seeing all the cars of the family parked out front. Jon's, Scott's, and Jeff's vintage Legos and toys, long stored in closets, were now being played with by their children in the same basement and bedrooms at the Chesterfield home.

BORLIN THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving at the Chesterfield house usually saw a rotation of families as yearly obligations switched between the in-laws and the Chesterfield gathering. Through the years not only direct family were invited to the Thanksgiving feast but may other extended family members and friends. It wasn't uncommon to have a house-full enjoying the company of all. One of the traditions was Dave's prayer or speech of thanks. Before the meal, all who were at the house would gather together, hold hands and together say thanks. The meals were an act of coordination and execution by Shari and Dave often planned with spreadsheets and timing charts. The end results were and still are one of the favorite meals of the year. Groups of family and friends would sit together in the family room, kitchen and dining room. In the early days a children's table would migrate to a location where any mess could be easily cleaned.

BORLIN CHRISTMAS

The Christmas gatherings are especially meaningful. The evening before the Christmas present opening, the stocking opening was always a starter to the festivities. The stockings were either traditionally hung on the fireplace mantel all in a row or hung descending the banister railing in the main hallway. A further tradition of a "white-elephant" or "stuff-the-sock" was sometimes included into the schedule. At some point in the evening, the BORLIN Cousins would take a break from their play to "organize" the presents into personal piles around the Christmas tree which of course gave them a chance to shake and guess their contents.

On the "BORLIN Christmas Day" (whenever it was decided to hold it) typically began with a huge breakfast for which Shari and Dave would awake early. As the rest of BORLIN families woke to the smells of bacon, pancakes and coffee, the anticipation for the gift opening grew. With breakfast complete, the official time came and everyone moved to the family room and claimed their spot on either a chair, sofa or floor. Typically the piles and stacks of presents around Shari and David's Christmas tree were visually magical as were the decorations. One of the biggest traditions at the BORLIN Family Christmas was to open one gift at a time by age chronologically. This gave everyone a chance to enjoy the reactions of the opener and share in the excitement. This often meant that opening presents would take 2 to 4 hours to complete. Though there has be an occasion or two where the present opening would infringe upon the mid-day meal prep and a "mass opening" event would occur.

By the end of the present opening, a layer of wrapping paper, colored tissue paper and boxes of all sizes covered the floor. The BORLIN Cousins by this time had moved off with their favorite choice of gift to play. The adults would split into a couple of different groups: Shari and Dave would return to the kitchen to complete preparations for the big Christmas meal while others of us attempted to clean the family room's devastation. The "big-meal" as it was referred to was again like Thanksgiving a choregraphed ballet of cooking, warming, bbq'n and of course eating. Desert was an exercise of choice between pies, cookies, cakes and candies. Pies were the choice for most as home-made pies were also judged and consumed quickly.

>>> See the Borlin Family Christmas Letters <<<

Borlin Vacations

BORLIN Family vacations were also some of the best memories between the four families. Some of these trips were to Santa Rosa, Florida, Ft. Morgan, Alabama, Disney World, the Appalachia Mountains and the west coast. Renting a large beach house on the Gulf Coast peninsula and spending an entire week together was priceless in terms of family time together.

The BORLIN Cousins would spend hours on the beach building sand castles, riding waves, fishing and being kids. Evenings were spent cooking dinners of BBQ'd shrimp, fried fish and chasing ghost crabs on the beach with flashlights. Though there were a few incidents over the years: Jeff stepping on a submerged sting-ray causing a painful jab, the totaling of the Dodge Durango of Jon and Vicki's, numerous sunburns and crab pinches, these vacations were and continue to be major highlights of the years in which they happened to occur.

Borlin Camping / Boating

Large camping / boating adventures have been a yearly excuse to gather the BORLIN Family as well. Prior to having children in the late 1990s, a new tradition was started by Scott and Kerri of renting / taking over a large section of a campground around Lake Shelbyville in mid-Illinois. This tradition carried over for many, many years though the participants would change from family, friends, young and old. Through the years, primitive tents became pop-up campers, then 30 foot 5th-wheels. Boats too started small and grew to board as many as possible for tubing rodeos, airborne inflatables, water-skiing competitions or just cruising up and down the lake looking for the perfect cove to park and have lunch or take a nap. Free-range BORLIN Cousins and their extended SCHERTZ Family Cousins were in constant state of play including fishing, playground visits, and exploring while carrying buckets of their latest wildlife capture (turtles, frogs, snakes, skinks or bugs). As for the adults and parents, we would setup and play games of "cornhole", "ladder toss", or the favorite "bocce ball" which would usually involved a fair amount laughter and beer consumption. The one big highlight of these camping trips would be "The Luau" where everyone would join and contribute to a large pot-luck meal together around Hawaiian themed dress / decorations all the while the young-ones would run around sporting glow sticks, necklaces and bracelets of a variety of neon colors. It would not be uncommon for a coconut bra to be worn and raccoons to gather to be hand-fed toward the end of those evenings.

Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries were also an occasion for the BORLIN Families and Cousins to come together in celebration.