HolleMama: Day #21

I was inspired to write this post yesterday after I had the gift of a morning alone (thank you Sean!!!) with my little sister at Starbucks...no kids, no husband, no race to be at the next activity and really no agenda at all, except to just be together. And it was as lovely as lovely can be. Have you ever walked into the sunlight after being in a dark room and the sunlight actually felt good on your brain? Ok, maybe that is just me, but that is how I felt after getting an hour and a half alone with one of my most precious treasures- my sister Emma.

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Things that I say to my kids that I should be listening to myself Day #20:
"You guys are brothers and you are going to be brothers for the rest of your life so please take care of each other...he is your best friend."

Ah... this one gets me.
I could not have had a better childhood and the best part about it was my brothers and sisters- the games, the wrestling, the pranks, the fights, the adventures, the not going to bed, the laughs, the snuggles and of course, sharing our quirky parents.
They are the only people on this planet who understand what it is like to be from the place where I come from.
There is just nothing else like siblings. (Or should I say no one like siblings? :))

But as the years have flown by, we have all gotten busy on our own tracks, as is natural, I suppose. Two of us are married with broods of young children, one has a very busy job with long hours and the other one is a junior in high school with a full load of school, sports, internships and other cool 16 year old things like babysitting and driving. I only live one short hour away from all of these special people, but with nap schedules, routines, school schedules and just keeping up with the dishes, it has become so tricky to find the time, let alone the right time, to get together. I seem to be free when everyone else has real responsibilities (which is exactly what they should be doing) and in the evenings when everyone else is free, I am at home putting my kids to bed (which is exactly what I should be doing).

For awhile now, I have just chalked it up to a season of life thing but that just isn't working for me anymore.
I miss my family.
Nothing fills my heart more than seeing my children love each other, look out for each other and just enjoy each other's company and I would be deeply saddened to know that they might not be close 30 years from now. I see them all playing together in the back yard and my prayer is that they will always be friends. And automatically, my thoughts turn towards my own brother and sisters and how I wished we could be together more often. And not just stand around the same room together watching our kids go crazy -which is not a bad way to spend an evening- but I'd like to have meaningful conversation and interactions with them, to help them if they need help, to know them deeper and if possible, share new adventures together. Each one of them is too valuable to me to just let time and distance (and crazy children) get in the way of the special and unique way that we are connected.

I don't want our relationship to only be about what we had.

I want it to be about what we have :)