Happy Birthday Week, Day 6: For the Love of Family

On this sixth day of my mother's birthday week, I'm appreciative of her passing on her love of being with family.

We likely all have family gatherings for holidays, weddings and other special occasions. Mom enjoyed those times, because there was always so much life, so much excitement, so much fun, talking, screaming and nonsense - no matter what brought us together. I've learned since her passing that she was definitely the glue.

Growing up - between our own family, my sister and her children, my brother and his family, neighbors, and often times old friends of my parents', we'd have a houseful of laughter, a lot of food, practical jokes, eating a lot of food, stories of what's been happening since last we met, more eating, board games, playing outside, and dessert. They were great times that I wouldn't trade for the world.

As we got older and grew apart, I still looked forward, even became dependent upon, those short visits with family - and - as long as mother was there, didn't want the time to end.

One of the "funnest" times was a more recent holiday gathering: Thanksgiving 2004, which we combined with celebrating the end of the worst hurricane season on record. We had been hit with the center of back-to-back hurricanes, only two weeks apart, and the season went through the entire alphabet of hurricane names. It was a tough summer, so we celebrated. My husband's family also came. Everyone brought something that got them through the power outages, the wind, the hunkering down, and they each told the story as to why that particular thing was so important to them. My niece told of making sun-tea, but left it out too long and it fermenting, becoming Hurricane Hooch. It really was great, animated fun, but much better understood had you been there.

I'm so grateful for the Sunday drives we took in our old convertible when I was very young. Our little family of four, together, loving each other and being together. (By then, my older sister was married and my brother was in the Air Force.)

I'm so grateful for all the memories of family gatherings, whether it was for holidays or just Sunday meals. Our house was always full of the scents from Mom's cooking.

I'm so grateful to have been connected to my new-to-me cousins, whom we met this past April. It saddens me that Mother didn't get to see us all meet for the first time, because I know she would have been thrilled. I wish we were close enough (logistically) to get together more often, but thanks to today's technology, we do connect nearly every day.

I'm so grateful for the time I get to spend with my older sister and brother, and I wish my younger sister would come back into the fold. Mother was the glue that bound us and now that she's gone, well, things have changed.

I'm so grateful for my husband and my son and his wife. I love, love, love being with them. Since Mother passed away, my daughter-in-law has taken care to see that new traditions are being created between the four of us. I love her for that.

I'm so grateful Mother taught me to love from my heart.

Some family fun in 2006.

I love and miss you.