Family

Today, our family was not exactly jumping for joy..... getting too old to do that!  At least not jumping physically, but emotionally it was a joyous day.  Our mother turned 85 years old four weeks ago and we were all together today to help her celebrate.  All eight of her kiddos were together, again!  

We have been very fortunate to get together very often.  Over the years, several of us have lived in other parts of the country and it seemed that we were still able to all be together at least once a year.  Now that we all live in Wisconsin and Minnesota, our opportunities to convene together have increased.  

Convening together does not always mean being together for any length of time.  Let me explain.  Part of the dilemma we face is that there are so many of us siblings.  It's hard to have conversations with all our siblings, and before you know it we're leaving for home.  "Oh shoot, I didn't get a chance to ask so-and-so how their son is doing!  I didn't get a chance to ask so-and-so about their job and how it's going."  We have quantity time, but not always quality time.   

I know that the solution to this dilemma is committing to visiting each sibling and having those one-on-one conversations.  Does it happen?  Not very often.  I seem to let time slip away and not take initiative to have those visits....until the next time we're all together for a birthday, shower, wedding or funeral....and then I regret not having the time to talk with them.  

Yes, I need to "jump" on the bandwagon and make sure that I have those conversations that I feel I miss in our large family gatherings.  Large family gatherings are good and we're so fortunate to have so many of them, but I'm ready to take this jumping for joy to a different level...a personal level.