The changing of Family priorities

I started blogging almost two years ago and over this past summer I stopped. A very good friend of mine suggested I start again to keep my mind busy while I am not able to work. Often I am able to come up with ideas that just seem to pop into my head, due mostly to current events, but also from conversations with others. Anyways, I sent out a mass email to the 20 or so contacts in my email address account, (I know, not too many contacts there David), telling them about my blog. I received a reply from a cousin of mine and in it I thought about how out of touch we get with family once we get older.

Do you recall when you were younger and you would go visit your parents family, Grand Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins? You always looked forward to that week or two vacation during the summer or Christmas when you got together and did whatever you did. It was always a fun time for me and I will always remember those times. We would travel from Amarillo, TX to Frederick, OK or to Oklahoma City, OK and visit with all the family that could make it in. Aunts and Uncles would come in from Nebraska or Tennessee, others would come from where ever they were living and you got together and did the family things. I know we all remember those times and often we think back to those times wondering where they went. You often think, why did it stop? What was the change and where are those relationships now. For some people those relationships have continued but are they as strong as they were back then?

My answer to those questions are really pretty simple. We grow up and transfer what we did as a child on to the next generation. Instead of us being the kids, we are now the Aunts and Uncles. This lasts for a while as our parents are now the Grand Parents and the family comes to visit them. Instead of playing and running around, doing the things you did as a child you are now one of the adults. You sit and talk about work, your plans for the future, your hopes for your children. The secret discussions you have with only certain members of the family concerning what we are going to do when this happens or when that happens. This continues until your children start to become young adults. At that time you may go to a wedding here or a wedding there, but you see those early family members less and less, to where you may never see them again. Often times the only way you get together with them is at a funeral.

Finally, you are now at the point when you are the Grand Parent. You look in the mirror and you are not that young kid playing with your cousins. Thankfully I am still young enough to be in the second category, but now that I have grand kids I am slowly moving away from that. With both my parents having passed on there will not be those times when you take the kids to see Grandpa or Grandma. You won't be visiting as much with your brothers or sisters and their kids.


Priorities change with the passing of time. Life moves on whether we are ready for it or not. Take the time to leave a note, email, or phone call to someone in your family from your past. Though they are not a constant in your life they were at one time. Our family is our heritage and once we lose part of our family a small part of us goes with them. Do this not only with family but friends you have had over the years. You never know what it will do for you or for them.