We Are Family

I was intensely reminded recently of how much I miss my family and how important a strong family is to a healthy state of mind.  You see, I live a good two-day drive from all but my Dad and one of my brothers.  If you consider that my grandparents, on their 60th wedding anniversary, were given a single rose from each of their grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren, totaling a whopping 60 roses, I’d say that I miss a lot where my family is concerned, simply by being so far away.  I hear about all the births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and all the drama in between (or some of it, at least) but it’s only about once a year that I actually get to physically get together with my huge clan.
It’s been a big year.  My grandmother, probably the most amazing woman I’ve ever known, just turned 91 and in years since my grandparents 60th anniversary the clan has produced around 20 or so great and great-great grandchildren.  So we had a little get together to celebrate her birthday and all the new babies.  While we were celebrating, in fact, another great granddaughter was born.
Honestly, the gathering was chaos, but it was chaos of the best possible kind.  There were kids everywhere, from my second cousins one-week old boy to my nephew’s five-year old son.  My two-year old daughter was overwhelmed with all her new cousins.  As far as she knew, she only had three cousins!  She had suddenly hit the cousin jackpot.  Everywhere she looked there were new playmates, all around her age.  I remember that feeling from when I was young and living near this part of my family.  It was a unique kind of belonging that I’ve never felt anywhere else and I want it so badly for my kids.
My Gran was in her glory, with new babies to hold, and older kids coming by to chat and hug and sing happy birthday.  The pride in her eyes as she looked around at her crew was massive.  I remember a few years ago at my grandfather’s funeral, a reminder that his family; his children, grandchildren, great and great-great grandchildren, was the thing he was most proud of in his life.  I don’t know if this appreciation of my family was instilled by my grandparents alone, but I know it started with them, and it continues because of them.
Don’t get me wrong, I love and appreciate the family I share with my hubby at home, but there’s just something about the madness created by 40 some odd family members (the children nearly outnumbering the adults) reminiscing and getting to know each other all over again.  If everyone felt a part of something this big and this strong, the world would be a far better place.  It’s hard to feel lost or hurt or angry when surrounded by that much love.  Family is that double edged sword sometimes.  On one side you're stuck with maybe some people that you wouldn't choose to know otherwise, but on the other side you're surrounded by people who love you just because.  I'll take it.  It's worth it.

Road Trip... Part Two

So, the adventure continues… We made it to our hotel, just over halfway between my house and my mom’s house, nearly 10 hours into Day One of our road trip.  We got mostly settled then headed to a local diner for dinner.  The diner had just changed ownership or management or something a few hours before we arrived, which apparently meant that it had a whole new menu.  Unfortunately for us and every other diner that night we got copies of the old menu to order from.  I’ve never heard “I’m sorry, we’re not serving that anymore” so many times in my life.  Regardless, we did end up eating, and it was food, so I guess I can’t complain too loudly.  After dinner the girl and I went for a swim in the hotel pool (which I had confirmed was in working order before booking the reservation on-line).  Then it was bedtime, which was a challenge with a two year old sleeping in a room with three adults.  It took until nearly midnight to even get her into the bed we were sharing, but that was followed by an epic toss-and-turn session which included having her feet in my face and on my pillow a number of times.  Then there was the temperature issue… too hot, too cold, too hot… each time having to get up to “fix” the thermostat thingy.  On a positive note, the little man only got me up once in the night.  Of course, it was right in the middle of the longest stretch of sleep I had all night, but whatever.
The morning was a new beginning, with both kids sleeping a little in the car.  Then, well, all got turned upside down.  The girl was happily playing in her car seat when all of a sudden she turns to me, panicked and says, “Mommy, my tummy hurts!”  As I ask her whether she’s hungry or wants a drink of water, she begins to cough and I know what’s coming.  “She’s throwing up!” I yell and begin frantically looking for something to “catch”.  Enough details.  We had to pull over and clean up both her and the carseat (luckily everything was contained to the car seat, but I’m still trying to get the smell to completely disappear).  Once everything was cleaned up, though, aside from the smell, the rest of the trip was uneventful.
We spent the next few days at my mom’s.  She lives in a fifth wheel (aka great big camper) which doesn’t leave much room for 3 adults, a toddler and a newborn so the girl and I slept in a tent.  She was so excited the first night that she shouted, “We’re sleeping in a tent!” at the top of her lungs the second she was all tucked in.  Oddly enough, after the weather reports said it was going to be clear and hot all week, we, instead, got thunder and lightning storms with typhoon style rain.  Imagine my concern every day as I watched the clouds roll in and the rain begin to fall, then my pleasant surprise as, every evening, the clouds disappeared and it warmed up just in time to go to bed.  It was always a little touch and go, and there was a back up plan, but it was fun and so sweet to wake up each morning to the beautiful sleeping face of my little girl.  We never got even a little damp (my step-dad really knows how to put up a good tent!) and add to it, one morning the girl’s first words were “Mommy, you’re the best friend I ever had.  We’re going to be friends for ever and ever.”  It was all definitely worth the risk of a wet night’s sleep.  So, here I am now, sitting at my cousins kitchen table, waiting to feed the little man for the last time before going to bed.  I’m glad to say, in a few weeks time, we will be flying home.  I’ve had enough adventure for a while

Road Trip... Part One

So there’s progress on the house, if you count having no walls, no electricity, no kitchen and one barely useable bathroom progress.  I keep telling myself that it must get worse to get better.  It has and it will.  I can walk through the front door and see the beautifully large living room space, followed by the huge dining and kitchen area.  The kitchen is so large, in fact, that I’m a little lost as to what to do with it.  It’s the entire width of the house, about 25 feet, and pretty close to square, with a separate large pantry area (that used to be attached to a bathroom oddly enough) AND another separate area we are planning for a built-in breakfast nook (the bathroom, minus the walls).  The problem is that there is very little wall space for cabinets, so we’re working on a creative way to build the island that will be both ultra functional and kinda cool looking.  Anyway, there’s progress, but we’re a long, long way from moving in.  And did I mention that we’ve rented out our condo so we’ve moved into a 2 bedroom basement suite that’s about half the square footage of the condo until the house is ready?  Packing was a real treat.  I always had three boxes on the go; storage, basement suite and trip.  Then once we moved into the basement suite I went through the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms again to purge nearly another fifty percent of stuff into storage.  This is what prompted a month long “vacation” to visit family, that starts with a two-day road trip.  Hubby is staying at home and using the next month to get as much done as he possibly can on the house… when he’s not working his real job, that is.

I currently sit in the back seat of my dads minivan, between my two year old daughter and my two month old son and we are about six hours into Day One of the road trip.  The kids have just traded places in the sleep department.  The girl finally passed out after a couple episodes of Toopy and Binoo and several rounds of The Ants Go Marching In, just in time for the Little Man to open his eyes and want some playtime. I tried to plan for every possibility and so far, knock on wood, I’ve been well prepared.  We’ll see what the next few hours bring.  As I type now, I just glanced up at the battery life on my laptop.  It’s in the red.  I guess that means it’s time to go.