My family - the six of us ... Dad, Mom, and four kids spent an overnight together.
JUST US.
Hanging out - talking - LAUGHING and being a family.
Like the good old days.
Except - in the old days...... we were too young to appreciate something like that.
Too naive to really understand how precious and priceless spending time would eventually be.
If you think about it - after high school and college how often does this really happen?
We were doing the math and calculated back to sometime in the late 1990's when we were all together without all the new (and wonderful) people in our lives.
Crazy how 20 years has gone by and how much has changed.
If you were to peek in our home 30 years ago.... you would have seen a very busy Mommy & Daddy with four kiddos - age 7, 5, 2 and 1.
It was way back THEN....we began to learn about the love in a family.
It was way back THEN....our parents were building the foundation for what is now an incredible gift to all of us.
If you think about it - after high school and college how often does this really happen?
We were doing the math and calculated back to sometime in the late 1990's when we were all together without all the new (and wonderful) people in our lives.
Crazy how 20 years has gone by and how much has changed.
If you were to peek in our home 30 years ago.... you would have seen a very busy Mommy & Daddy with four kiddos - age 7, 5, 2 and 1.
It was way back THEN....our parents were building the foundation for what is now an incredible gift to all of us.
We initially came up with the idea to get together (just the 6 of us) awhile back, but it was actually pretty tough to implement.
With kids and spouses and work schedules in the mix .... finding a time when we were all free was the first challenge.
Once we secured the date with each other - we brought Mom and Dad in on the idea.
They were on board!
We didn't really have a plan of what we would do..... just knowing the time would go all too fast.
We met up at Matthew's camper ... and although the weather wasn't super nice... somehow it didn't matter.
We were all relaxed... enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner and later in the evening the wind died down and we were able to enjoy a fire.
Although I always miss my brood when I'm away ... I LOVED how I was able to really talk with everyone.
Of course we brought up lots of funny memories and of course I was the butt of many jokes ... but that was nothing new!
As the night was in motion .. I looked around at six smiling faces... and quietly prayed we'd get to do this again.... much sooner than 20 years from now.
I also wondered about my own little family..... would my girls want to hang out with me and their dad someday... like old times?
Brings me to tears just thinking about it.
Somehow my parents did an amazing job keeping us connected as we grew and I pray we can do that with our girls, too.
Because there were four of us -- we were often each other's playmates.
I recall many backyard games or playing together in the basement.
We were always close and what a gift that closeness has stuck.
Time is not on our side as we age... seems there is just never enough of it.
Life and other priorities often come first....but making the time to be together, to LAUGH at old times and to make new memories....to really catch up and to honor our Mom and Dad for all they have done for us.
That is definitely a priority.
I love my family so much....we are all bonded by blood and by two parents who fought the good fight to keep us close.
Whether it was small family outings, packing up the van and heading to the lake, annual trips to the Twins game, spending oodles of time and cash at the county fair, or taking us to church every single Sunday - we all gained an understanding of family and the gift of being together.
I thank God for that example and hope they were humbled by our rare and precious time together last weekend.
As they say .... "You done good, Mom & Dad.... You done good"!
Love you all and let's get this on the books annually!!
With love,
Cuz I'm the mama!
We didn't really have a plan of what we would do..... just knowing the time would go all too fast.
We met up at Matthew's camper ... and although the weather wasn't super nice... somehow it didn't matter.
We were all relaxed... enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner and later in the evening the wind died down and we were able to enjoy a fire.
Although I always miss my brood when I'm away ... I LOVED how I was able to really talk with everyone.
Of course we brought up lots of funny memories and of course I was the butt of many jokes ... but that was nothing new!
As the night was in motion .. I looked around at six smiling faces... and quietly prayed we'd get to do this again.... much sooner than 20 years from now.
I also wondered about my own little family..... would my girls want to hang out with me and their dad someday... like old times?
Brings me to tears just thinking about it.
Somehow my parents did an amazing job keeping us connected as we grew and I pray we can do that with our girls, too.
Because there were four of us -- we were often each other's playmates.
Life and other priorities often come first....but making the time to be together, to LAUGH at old times and to make new memories....to really catch up and to honor our Mom and Dad for all they have done for us.
That is definitely a priority.
I love my family so much....we are all bonded by blood and by two parents who fought the good fight to keep us close.
Whether it was small family outings, packing up the van and heading to the lake, annual trips to the Twins game, spending oodles of time and cash at the county fair, or taking us to church every single Sunday - we all gained an understanding of family and the gift of being together.
I thank God for that example and hope they were humbled by our rare and precious time together last weekend.
As they say .... "You done good, Mom & Dad.... You done good"!
With love,
Cuz I'm the mama!
That's just so awesome that you were able to get together!!! I can only imagine what a feat that was to schedule, but I love how you and your siblings planned things before finally getting your parents involved. I can only imagine how happy that must have made them!
ReplyDeleteThis is so sweet! Glad you could have fun together. It was blogworthy for sure!
ReplyDelete