Day 207: It's at the Kids' Table That Bonds are Formed

Today was a fantastic day and I know I don’t say that very much, but that makes it so much more valuable. You grow up with your family and take them for granted, then you get older, move away, have families and sort of forget how much fun you had as kids together. Sometimes it takes a big, holiday family gathering, a silly game and some cocktails to bring you back to the days when you were young and your whole world revolved around the kids’ table. When I was a kid my favorite thing in the whole world was spending time with my cousins at my Aunt’s house. Now that I’m an adult, I’d have to say that one of my favorite things is spending time with my cousin’s at one of their houses.

I guess not all that much has changed after all. I don’t have to sit at the kids’ table anymore and I’m the one drinking the cocktails, but other than that, I’m still giggling and hanging on my cousins’ every word. No matter how old I get, the one thing that will never change is that feeling of excitement at pending family get togethers. I’ve had fun at weddings, funerals, bonfires, hospital visits, lakes and holiday celebrations with my extended family and tonight was no different. We all have our issues with family, but barring any traumatic circumstances, family always feels like home and brings you back to that innocent time of childhood.

We’ve put on some weight, experienced some heartbreak and had a few illnesses, but when I look at my cousins or Aunts and Uncles I remember them the way they were and that makes me feel like the carefree admiring kid I used to be. So on Christmas, here’s to Dr. Pepper flavored lip gloss, sitting in parked cars pretending we’re driving, basement bands playing on toy vacuums and brooms for guitars, fireworks at the lake and sneaking sips of adult beverages. I’m not a cheery, positive person, but nights like tonight I feel like the happy glow might never end. Of course it will and there will be more illnesses, heartbreaks and passings, but we’ll always have the memories of holiday celebrations past and the pictures of that awesome guitar solo on the broom. I love you Denise, Donna, Dana, Dani, Kara, Rachel, Sarah, Meg, Katie, Jim, Julie, Dee, Don, Cookie, Marshall and Lump. Thanks for the good times.

Happy Holidays.