Family Near and Far

I talked to my oldest daughter the other day and she told me that my granddaughter Teri and her family would be moving this weekend to Florida and they would be traveling with them to help with this move.

As I thought about this I realized just how our family structure has involved over the years and then I thought never in a million years could I have ever imagine that one day my family would be living more faraway than nearer to me..

When I was first married 64 years ago, my sweet husband was in the Navy, after his boot training in San Diego, California, he was transferred to Whidbey Island, Washington and this is where our life began.  After the Korean War, back home to California we went and there we lived and raised our family for the next 30 years, near family, parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.

We celebrated Holidays, Thanksgivings, Christmases and Birthdays with each other along with special events like blessings of babies, baptisms, school graduations, missionary farewells, weddings and our annual vacations to the High Sierras, just to mention a few.

But in today's societies it's not that way, we find that after our children are grown, educated and find their jobs and careers, life will then take them all over the world and in order to keep the family ties close together, we then rely on technology and other forms to keep one connected.  We keep in contact by our phones, emails, facebook, letters and cards and planned vacations, sometimes to faraway places.

But the older one gets, the harder it is to make the trips for visits, either by car or plane and the more grandchildren and great-grandchildren you might have, the less you might see them. You try to keep up with their lives and you want for sure that even though you might not see or hear from them for some length of time, that the little ones will still know who you are and hopefully know that they are important to you in your life.

My Sweetheart and I retired to Utah over 20 years ago, our 2 sons, Mark and Brad also live in Utah, but our Daughters live elsewhere.  Marta lives in North Carolina and Ann lives in Arizona.

Our Grandchildren now live all over the country and the world.

Arizona:-- Brandon and wife Amanda + 1 great, Tawni and husband Danny + 4 great, Derek and wife                          Dana + 3 great, Ryan and wife Cassie + 2 great grandchildren..plus Dane and his family....
California:-- Carey,  Katelyn and husband Brayden,  Lorena and her family....
Florida:-- Teri and husband Jeff + 3 great grandchildren..
Indiana:-- Michael and wife Kendra + 4 great grandchildren..
North Carolina:-- Kevan and wife Brooke + 3 great, Brian and wife Sheri +1 great grandchild
Tennessee:-- Cara and husband Greg + 4 great grandchildren..
Utah:-- Jared and wife Emily + 2 great grandchildren..
Vienna:-- Shawna and husband Sean + 5 great grandchildren.

I have passport and I have traveled and I also have 2 guestrooms and my family has traveled to me, but still I have missed many special occasions because of the distance of miles between us, but I have also been able to attend special times with them, but no matter where we live, how faraway or how near we are, our family is Eternal and our love for each other is Eternal.. WE ARE FAMILY....

and as I sit here thinking about these years and about my Sweetheart and the family we created, I can't help but count my blessings, it doesn't matter where we live or where my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren live, they are all so special to me and I love each and everyone of them, I think of them, I pray for them and I enjoy hearing from them and about them and I hope though the years I have given to them some part of me that is a special memory for them to hold deep in their heart....

I can truthfully say by looking back over these years, they have been good years, with a thousand memories, good memories..... to keep.....