Celebrate Family
The last two years have been crazy due to the pandemic. It doesn’t matter what side of the issue you’re on because life got weird pretty darn quick. As for me, I’m vaccinated. I planned to get the booster after the holidays but COVID 19 changed that when I got sick on New Year’s Eve. It was two very long, very bad weeks but I got through it. The cough lingered until the end of January. Now that enough time has passed since I was sick with COVID-19 I’ll be getting the 3rd shot that they’re recommending. When? Not sure. When I decide to actually head down to Walgreens I guess.
But COVID-19 emphasized to the rest of my family what I’ve been saying for so many years. Life is short and family is everything. Our boys get together with us for game nights and family dinners often. They call me frequently to see how I’m doing and to keep me in-the-loop about their lives, jobs and plans. It’s the one thing I was adamant about when I was growing up. I promised myself that I’d create a close relationship with my kids and be part of their lives when they were adults. I made sure to say “I love you” and hug them all the time. It’s something I didn’t have growing up. My Mom gave hugs. She gave the best hugs. Dad didn’t express love. He dictated what we should do, how we should behave and made sure we knew the importance of a close relationship with the Lord. He taught us things that made us who we are today. For that I’m thankful.
He most likely couldn’t show love because he wasn’t shown love when he was a kid. He told me his own mother singled him out and treated him badly. She’d make him do chores in the morning that made him late for catching the bus to school. That meant walking several miles and being late. He did say that at the end of her life, she asked him to forgive her which he did because it’s the Christian thing to do but there was something broken inside my Dad. He was a good man but like everyone else he struggled with things. His generation didn’t talk about things like that. Men were supposed to be strong and not show weakness.
Keeping my family close and interacting with each other is important to me but I’m not the meddling Mom. I don’t need to know every single thing going on in their lives. It took a few years to settle into the different phase of motherhood.
Starting with Easter Sunday, when all 15 of us are together I’m baking a quarterly birthday cake. We’ll celebrate April-May-June birthdays. Then when we have our 4th of July BBQ, I’ll bake a cake for July-August-September birthdays and so on. I like hosting everyone especially in the summer when we open the pool. There’s nothing better than a day of swimming, playing cornhole and grilling food. It usually turns into a game night as well.
I’m 60 now and I’m still working on myself as a person. God is still working on me. If people who have hurt my feelings or failed to show an ounce of appreciation aren’t going to change, then I pray the Lord changes me so that I can deal with it. You can’t change people but you can change how you deal with them.
It’s all about keeping family and learning how to love each and every one even if there are days when they drive you crazy. Life is short and you never know how much time you have together to celebrate family.
