There are no words that can adequately describe how fortunate I feel for having relatives that I treasure. Every Labor Day weekend for the past three decades, I have had the opportunity to spend time with extended family that I would never see otherwise. Life is busy, our family is quite sizeable, and I am forever grateful that my mother, aunts, and uncles joined in this yearly gathering with their cousins and their families.
Slowly but surely over the past couple of years, we have connected through social media. This interaction helps maintain our relationships in the years between that weekend get together. I haven't always been able to attend and sometimes, like this year, it's just for a day, but being able to follow the goings-on even if just through Facebook has made a world of difference in how close I feel to these loved ones. It doesn't matter that the time we spend together is over in the blink of an eye, all that matters is we bond each and every time we see each other.
Some of the most incredible memories for me are listening to the stories of when these cousins were younger. How they spent time together growing up and who had the closer connection to who, not to mention which in the group they now feel a closer kinship with having gotten to know the adult versions of their family. Sometimes forging friendships that hadn't previously been there, my mother, her siblings and their cousins have truly come full circle in life. It is impressive to watch, not to mention amazing to be part of.
Family - pretty much everything to me.
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