We Keep Touch On Social Media
Today we focus on our careers, raising our own kids, getting away when we can. Our extended family isn’t the center it once was and if a reunion were to be planned, most wouldn’t bother to come. Besides, we keep in touch on social media.
What we miss is the potato salad, the moments of laughter and sudden bursts of excitement when we hug someone we haven’t laid eyes on in over 10 years. Sitting next to someone who makes up our childhood memories and remembering their smile from years ago that you haven’t seen in person in a really long time.
We are missing this. What we don’t get that our grandparents did is that although the next get-together is always a year or so away, people aren’t commodities and everyone has an expiration date.
I left my grandmother’s party with a much better sense of who I am and where I came from. I laughed at jokes I heard (and told) and I got to spend time with people who contributed to who I am today.
I had forgotten how good that feels. I had forgotten how much I love them and I was reminded of how much I am loved. That alone deserves more respect than “I will make the next one.”
These days are flying by and my hope is that we stop being so focused on our own worlds and instead open the door to a family we have missed and that, by the way, really misses us too.
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This post originally appeared at 2 Wrongs Make 2 Wrights: Alison Wright, published with permission.
