Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Family Near and Far

We were just in Connecticut this past weekend celebrating a cousin's Bat Mitzvah and saw J's extended family.  And some of you know there has been a lot going on in my family, with my parents moving to Arizona and my sister H living in LA.  I'm feeling reflective about the role of family and friends in our life, especially since once we return back to Canada, as lovely as it is, we don't really have many.   We're making some, slowly, but our social life is much slower up here.  Which is both good and bad.  There is only so much you can talk about with a 5 year old and a 2 year old ("I'm 2 and a half!").

I recently put up this photo wall in my kitchen eating area:


I used these clear photo clips from photojojo, so it is like a big mat hanging from some nails at the top. And conceivably, it should be easy to change and add pictures.  Reflecting on these pictures, and the ones I just hung today from our wedding (yes, it has only been 5 months since we've moved in), I was so contented and happy to see so many of the same faces.

We are lucky in our family to have a warm, welcoming family, on both sides.  There is a picture of my Aunt Craze, and boy, she has earned her name.  And there is a picture of J wearing a blue velvet suit, and other male members of his family admiring that suit, because, of course, every member of J's family should really consider owning one (it was his Dad's).  We laugh a lot at family gatherings, and sometimes people throw up purple ice cream.  

Our extended family is just as fun. Auntie M and Auntie J will soon welcome someone new, we hope, and we'll get to add a new picture, FINALLY!  Uncle B's other profession, when he is not being important and checking his blackberry, is being a baby whisperer.  Uncle E has already been up to Toronto and gave J a great hangover.  There are pictures of them with Auntie Haha when she was still in elementary school.  They are coming up for Canada Day and will pretend to be patriotic Canadians. 

Soon we will go visit Auntie Haha and some of my high school friends in California.  We have other Aunties, Uncles, friends, and loved ones, too many to mention by name here. But doesn't that make us so very fortunate? To have an extended family, around the world - in California, DC, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Afghanistan and another one may be there soon, South Carolina, Germany, Nevada, Canada now and soon to be Arizona.  Wherever we are, we are still connected by email, airplanes, phone, skype, facetime, package, mail, photo, letter, postcard, and most importantly, love.  


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