La Familia

I miss my family. I miss my sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles. I miss the closeness and energy an extended family provides. The laughter, hugs, and tears that make us who we are today, I miss it so much.

"We're too busy. We just don't have time." Those are the common excuses. How about, "I'm just too tired." Or "I have a lot do." To me, all those excuses are BS. We ALL make time for the things we want to do. We ALL make time for the people we want to see.

Family has always been very important to me. Even as a teenager and young adult, I made the time to see my sisters and my nieces and nephews. I attended plays, sports events, band converts, and picked up the little ones from school. I would rather be with my family than my friends. Even after I married I completely made my husband's family my own. I loved Big Grandma's house. I could spend the whole day there. I loved my family.

It's with all understanding that families grow and move away. It happens, life happens. Children make us busy with school and extracurricular events. We, as adults, we get busy with work. We are all getting pulled every which way. We spread ourselves thin. But we do it to ourselves. We work 50 to 60 hour weeks and place our children in 3 or more activities. There's "no time" for family dinners. Everyone eats on go or in their bedrooms. How about the technology that takes the little time we have left.

I have always taught my girls that if they wanted to see someone they should make the first attempt to get in touch. Otherwise it will never happen. But what happens when the other person doesn't make that same attempt; that person puts you in the backseat. What happens then? It breaks one's heart.

When we get invited to an event, a birthday party, a wedding, or a special occasion to make it our first priority to be there. Many years ago we were invited to five different parties in one day and because I believed never to RSVP with a "will not attend" we attend every single party. It was a hell of a day but I couldn't let anyone down.

Although I am very disappointed in my family, I know I cannot expect that they do what I would do. I cannot expect them to drop everything for me as I would do for them.