There is a Canadian expression, “I have a lot of time for them,” which generally means, I like them a lot and make time for them. That is the way I feel about my family. There are 93 of us in my husband’s family including his five brothers, one sister, spouses, their kids and grandkids. We just returned from a week at a South Carolina beach together. Five were unable to join us because of other commitments. They declared they had FOMO: Fear of missing out, they wanted to be there!
My sister in law said it best, “Being together in a beautiful setting, watching our nieces, nephews and their spouses with their children was like a throw back of 30 years when we, the first generation watched all of you grow up. Thank you for making last week one of the best in our family history! There were little families together, larger families, and children meeting one another and playing like they had known each other forever. Once in a while, when the world is crazy, take a long moment to enjoy what we have and what we are and that we are making it a priority to keep it going!”
That is what we did. We paused. Right here in the middle of our lives. We stopped. Looked around at what we have together. Made a note. Took a deep grateful breath. We appreciated it and let our children know this is special.
We could have made the choice to spend our money on something else or pay some bills, but this event in our lives will mean so much more. We made the choice to make the time for those who are special to us and to let them know we have a lot of time for them.
(-Aspiring to be a) Happy Go Lucky Girl
Investing TIME into family is soon important. I couldn’t agree more!