Thus tied together, members can celebrate rituals of birthdays, gatherings at times like Christmas and Mother's Day and even perhaps a regular Sunday lunch.
The gathering seemed at times like an all-male production of "The Vagina Monologues".
He speaks to what is best inside us," Obama said when he addressed the gathering – and at times his wife appeared to agree.
A lot of families are gathering at this time of year — for graduations, picnics and barbecues.
The city hall staged a massive protest gathering at the time, led by Ian Paisley and James Molyneaux, which was designed to highlight unionist disgust at the British and Irish governments' meddling in Northern Irish affairs.
The group marched from Pearson Park to City Hall, and although the gathering got loud at times, police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said it remained peaceful.
Thousands of people flooded Daley Plaza in Chicago for a gathering of reflection that at times bordered on a patriotic rally.
Mr Ryan scorned Mr Obama as a hapless, verbose failure unable to address a simple reality: "We need to stop spending money we don't have".Yet amid the fighting talk and the predictions of victory, the gathering felt oddly flat at times, even wary.
During Tuesday night's gathering, the speeches were at times drowned out by the crowd's chants of "Yes, we can!" and "health care now!" The program has the support of some major Democratic leaders, including Donald E. Williams Jr., the Senate president pro tem and Christopher G. Donovan, speaker of the House.
As the name implies, those who attended such meetings came prepared to camp out, gathering at the prearranged time and place from distances as great as 30 to 40 miles (50 to 65 km) away.
