I come from a close family, in feelings if not in distance. That's why it was so special at Thanksgiving for us all to be together for a change. We were all thankful to have time to spend together because it doesn't happen often. My dad lives in Kentucky half the year and in northwest Florida half the year. My brother lives in southeast Florida, and my sister and I live fairly close to each other in Kentucky. However, we all get caught up in our own nuclear families and don't see each other as often as we could. We loved our family time at the holiday, especially Dad. At 84, he is becoming more and more aware of his mortality, and his family is very important to him. We laughed and enjoyed our memories. It was great!I don't think I ever realized how close our family was until I grew up and saw other families that didn't have nearly the loving relationship that we shared. We have always tried to stick together for family birthday celebrations and holidays, but with Bob and his wife Janet in Florida, they miss out on a lot of this. Terry's family didn't have this close relationship, and I have met many other people that don't quite understand the bond that we share and how important it is to us that we maintain these ties. It's getting harder to get together as the family grows and the kids have other family obligations, but we keep trying, and we treasure every opportunity we get.
I hope that we three of Dad's "kids" have managed to pass this family closeness on to our own children. It seems we have, and I know I am grateful to have three kids of our own to carry on our family traditions. It's only now as they've grown up that I have come to realize how they have treasured certain memories from their childhoods and how they have carried on some of the things we did while forming new traditions of their own. Life is good...
P.S. On another note--in looking at the picture, it strikes me that my brother and sister and I don't resemble each other much at all. I can see in the picture that I look like my dad, but I sure don't look like Bob and Peg, and they don't look like each other. My own kids can't say that about themselves!
3 comments:
Peggy's head is shaped like Bob's, and they carry themselves the same. And you do look like Grandpa. It might have helped to have Grandma in the photo for comparison, too--look at the photo at the house with all of you and her and you'll see the resemblance.
And, What?! Certainly you're not saying that I look like my brothers. No resemblance there! None at all!x
It certainly is . . . good! We had a wonderful time, huh?
And, I used to look like cousin Linda (whom I only vaguely remember and never thought I resembled), but the older I get, the more I remind myself of Grandma Hewitt. Not sure who I look like, but at this point, I guess it doesn't really matter!
Lucky are those who have come from good family ties. I am one among those lucky people. Today nuclear families are increasing and no one has the time to meet their kin and share their joy.
I gave a surprise to my family with a family tree created on social networking site called onefamily.com.
http://www.onefamily.com/Home/Index/rglx/myfamily_aboutita3
It’s about connecting with your family. I feel it is one more way to strengthen your family ties. Everyone at my home liked it and we use it a lot. May be even you can give a surprise to your folks.
Post a Comment