Memories Brought About by Wonderful Circumstance.

I am learning a fun thing about blogs. It helps me keep a sort of spiritual/emotional journal when I would normally hate doing it, and it keeps me in touch with people I really care about through reading there’s. My sister Jill has one of my favorite blogs and the last month or so, I have really gotten to know her better by reading it. Jill is nine years my junior and lives across the country from me. Her little daughter Belle and I have some sort of crazy connection that now with time and distance is probably slowly wiping from her little mind, but I still keep track of her through Jill’s blog. And Jill is in a faze of life that I once was in, in what seems like ages ago. Watching her tackle the insanity of life in such a brilliant way not only makes me proud of her, but helps me grow also.

Today I read her blog and it got me thinking as she talked about what was important and what we would really remember down the road. How to handle stress and enjoy the life we are living at the moment. I’ve had a chance this past year to put a lot of things aside and get back to the basics. True it was necessity that put me there and not some great revelation of my own, but the blessings that have come and the moments to remember down the road will forever change me.

My children have been forced to spend more time together. Every time we stay with Jason in Nevada, we spend most our days going from one fantastic park to another. Luke is 17 and my youngest, Sam, is 5, but somehow we manage to have fun all of us together. Whether it is playing a game of pig,tossing the frizbee, or playing a game of go-fish, we are all together having fun. Not spending a million dollars and walking through theme park after theme park, but one on one connection. Don't get me wrong I love going on California vactions and going to Disney Land, but in the end the time we spend together on the beach, with just us is what the kids really remember.

We have a tradition in my home, cruel as the kids may think it is, it has become my sanity. Along with Monday night Family Home Evening, the kids are not allowed friends on Thursdays. That’s early out day for my kids. They have a few extra chores and then they spend the rest of the time together. I can hear them right now out my front window chasing each other around on the lawn. One of those forced times to relieve the boredom that they will forever remember.

I grew up on a farm, where my nearest friend was what felt like a forever bike ride away. Necessity forced a part in the friendship and the memories I have playing with my older brothers and sister. I have more memories of chasing after my brother, Ken, when I was little, or trailing through marshes with his hunting buddies, when I was a little older than of any others that occupy my brain. Those memories, even wading through frozen water, are the happiest memories of my childhood I have. Ken, is still to this day one of my greatest heroes, and I’m grateful circumstances played the wonderful part they did in creating that for me.

Someday, our house will sell and our family won’t be so stressed. Someday, the memories of worry and wondering if life would ever be better, will end. But the memories, those happy moments in the park in Nevada, or forced Thursdays in the front yard, will be the memories my children hold on to. The memories that will help define who they are, and the memories that will bind them forever as a family.