Keeper Pile

I'm in the car on my way back to Wautoma. My sisters and I are going to lunch with our aunts and mom. I don't know why we don't do this more often. Life is too short to not spend time with your family. I know we all have lots of things going on in our lives, but we always will. Whatever is important at any given time will consume us if we let it. Time has to be made for family. When I was little we were always visiting one relative or another. I didn't know any different. At the time it was fun and I cherish all of the weekends I spent with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I remember my mom never wanting to go because we were always running around to one person's house or another. She didn't work and pretty much just had to show up for social functions and family functions. The social ones she lived for, the family ones, not so much. I don't know how my parents did all the stuff they did while I was growing up because they are not any more organized than I am. I think they just went with the flow and did things because that is what was expected of you. My husband's family avoids each other at all costs. It is really easy to fall into the rut of not going anywhere when you have been told for fifteen years that spending time with family is too much of a hassle and your children are too much trouble when taken outside of the house. I don't know why I even care what anyone else thinks because I am the one who is responsible for all of it. If I want my kids to have any memory of their family outside of the walls of our house then I just need to do what I know is best and show up for every family function whether I want to or not and let the memories make themselves. I am sure that all of my fond memories as a child were not necessarily good memories at the time. Time seems to mend memories. That trip where all your family did was bicker the entire time becomes one of your favorite vacation memories because of one small thing that happened and made everything up to that point seem insignificant. Those are the times when you know you are a family and you are stuck with each other whether you like it or not - so you better just make the most of it! I'm going to cut myself some slack because, to be fair, my childhood memories are from a time in my parents lives when their kids were all older than mine are now. I am going to strive to make sure that, now that I don't have little tiny kids, we are going to take every opportunity we can to make memories. Hopefully by the time my kids are parents even the "so-so" memories will have made it into the "keeper" pile.

Lunch was wonderful. We had great food and even better conversation. I forgot how fun my family can be. They rarely get upset with each other and are genuinely interested in each others well being. I know that sounds like a too obvious statement, but I know families where they are only interested in trying to upset each other's well being by ridiculing and belittling every little thing that is said by anyone. I have no patience for people who feel the need to put others down just so they can feel superior. Anyway, like I was saying, my family isn't like that. After lunch we went flower shopping. That was a blast. We found all kinds of stuff we "needed". They had to pack us into the car along with our flowers! Then we went back to my aunts house to say our good-byes. It's funny, all the times I go to my side of the families functions I rarely hear the same story twice. I don't know if they remember all the stories they have told and are careful not to repeat themselves, or maybe they just have so much more going on in their lives that they don't feel the need to rehash the same old stories over and over again. Anyway, I heard new stories and we had lots of time to make new memories. We were all talking about how we will have to get together again soon - maybe in Florida. I hope that will happen. I'd like to think that positive thoughts will get us a few more great times together. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I'm glad I can add one more wonderful memory to my "keeper" pile!