Am I the only one that remembers when no matter what…. You always had someone on your side. Your family! If you were broke, starving, lonely, pregnant, depressed or just wanted some company…. They were there! And you were there for them for the good and the bad. The highlight of my childhood was spending time with family. Swimming in Aunt Angel’s pool, listening to the grown ups play guitar and sing while the kids (me!) went snooping around the neighborhood or played Nintendo. Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, Easter. We cooked, laughed, but mostly just spent time together. I always felt like I had a mob to back me up if anyone crossed my path. In my family we don’t have 2nd, 3rd, 4th cousins – we are all cousins. Family. Close family.
You would think that since my mom died at such a young age, we would spend more time together. These days we are all just too busy. Myself included. It seems like my immediate family gets my attention but I am too tired or too busy to go participate in other family functions. I am not even sure there are family functions anymore. It’s just sad. I wish my kids could experience what I felt growing up. I think every other weekend I was at one of the grandparents. My grandparents taught me so much. Cooking, baking, social skills, religion, family values. I am just trying to figure out what changed and why. My kids rarely spend the night with family. They wont have the memories that I had. Or hear the stories about “the good old days”. I cant help but wonder how different things would be if mom were here. She was the glue that held us together.
Typically, someone would be there for me about right now telling me to pick my big drooping chin up off the floor, or making me laugh. Reminding me how good I have it. Reminding me that “family is everything.” “As long as we have family…that is all that matters. As long as we have each other”. What changed?
You would think that since my mom died at such a young age, we would spend more time together. These days we are all just too busy. Myself included. It seems like my immediate family gets my attention but I am too tired or too busy to go participate in other family functions. I am not even sure there are family functions anymore. It’s just sad. I wish my kids could experience what I felt growing up. I think every other weekend I was at one of the grandparents. My grandparents taught me so much. Cooking, baking, social skills, religion, family values. I am just trying to figure out what changed and why. My kids rarely spend the night with family. They wont have the memories that I had. Or hear the stories about “the good old days”. I cant help but wonder how different things would be if mom were here. She was the glue that held us together.
Typically, someone would be there for me about right now telling me to pick my big drooping chin up off the floor, or making me laugh. Reminding me how good I have it. Reminding me that “family is everything.” “As long as we have family…that is all that matters. As long as we have each other”. What changed?
1 comment:
My mom and I were just talking about this. She lives 4 hours away but spends as much if not more time with the kids than their "local" grandparents. Thankfully my dad is getting better taking the kids to the camp but I lived at my grandparents half the time. Always had cousins around yet mine see theirs a few times a year at family functions. It's amazing and even more sad that our kids arent able to get what we di.
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