It's almost time! The kids will be here this weekend...and the final count is ..who cares at this point! My four daughters, 1 husband, 4 grandkids and the local family will be here! We'll visit, laugh, sing karaoke, eat and celebrate Mom's birthday. It'll be good to see my girls again.
I so wish that Tim could be here too, but my son will be on his way to Alabama for some schooling for the USAF. We're used to not having him around for these sorts of get-togethers. The Air Force has owned him for over 20 years now, and he's at their beck and call to fly around the globe delivering paperwork to various bases. I told him that he's seeing a lot of the world. His answer was 'yeah...one base at a time.' I guess he's not seeing much of anything except military buildings unless he's on leave at the same time. He was able to line up some 'off' time while he was on duty to England, so he took the chance to see Ireland.
Family time is important to me, and the older I get, the more important it seems to be. We are so scattered in this day and age. Not only my family, but the families of most of us these days, seem to be separated by time and miles. When I was growing up, all of the family lived in the same town where we were raised and where our parents before us grew up. We knew no other place as "home." There was a comfort in that, a knowledge of things "familiar".
We've all moved out of the family homes and many, or just a few, miles from where we were raised. We've formed new places to call 'home', new friendships in new environments. I guess that's why family visits are more important than ever now. We are drawn to what is 'familiar' to us, and what could be more so than the faces of those we love and know so well?
