Family

The foundation, the base, the first examples of trust, love and unity! Your first best friends are your family. The people you can't live without as youngsters. As family you learn together, eat together, play together and eventually fight others together. Can't no one come between my family and me. Remember that? Remember when you thought your cousins were the toughest in the world and no one was better than them? The family barbeques and family reunions were off the hook because you were able to spend time with your family from other states that you love so much, hearing your uncles lie about everything while they are drinking beer and whiskey and smoking cigarettes and cigars. Listening to the encouragement from your aunts as well as the latest good and bad gossip about other family members. The music was loud and the blues was teaching us about all the love and hardships they had encountered and eventually that drunk uncle would create a dance floor and began to dance and sing word for word and occasionally shout out the love he has for his wife and soon she joins in and they cut a rug like they are the only two in the room. Remember the children running around playing tag, kickball, double dutch, football, basketball and any other outdoor activity they could come up with. Everything was good and everyone was okay, love was in the air and it wasn't nothing to have a visit from time to time from your aunts, uncles and cousins. The family was tight. I remember my aunt Dorothy would bake those cakes and pies and fuss at us and she would also teach us right and wrong. I would sit and watch television with my mom, nothing in particular. It was just the time spent that I enjoyed the most! I remember going to the Worlds of Fun amusement park with the whole family and we would spend the whole day out there riding rides, eating junk food and laughing. Birthdays were the best days ever and spending it with family meant the most to us.

As time moved along so did the closeness of the family. Some managed to keep up with family traditions and some fell off. Family for one reason or the other started beefing with each other and no one tried to solve the beef. The children started falling out with each other because of what their parents were going through and shit just got out of hand. The younger generation began having their own families and they concentrated on raising their children and got away from hanging out with their other family members. Eventually those children began having children and the family was growing and now these children don't know who their cousins and other family members are. The older generation that held the family started transitioning to Heaven and it seemed like the glue that held the family together began to melt away. Those who tried to step up and revitalize the family again had some success, but not like it used to be. Kudos to those who tried. For so many reasons family isn't how I remember it being. I miss those days, don't you?

As we move on into our careers and meeting new people new bonds begin to flourish and you start hanging out with people who remind you of family. These new people love you and have your back like your childhood cousins did way back when. You talk like sisters and brothers, you share intimate details about life situations you don't share with real family members know that you will not be judged and knowing that if at all possible these people will get down in the trenches with you when times get tough. Your children grow up like cousins and you all celebrate birthdays and holidays together and eventually they meet your real family members and are excepted into the fold. The love of family is strong and in full effect and you can't imagine them not being in your lives. You've raised children together, partied together, cried together, worked together and stood by each other through thick and thin. I believe that God shows us that family isn't just blood, it's a intimate trusting love affair of the heart. We need each other and God put's people in our lives to help us keep on living, showing us that we are never alone in the struggle. We need to smile, we need to cry, we need to vent, we need to share, we need help! In the spiritual we talk and pray to God for answers and one of the ways he delivers is by inserting love ones in our lives to relay the message he is sending you.

Family, is it safe to say that family is all around us? Blood or not family bonds are established and they are needed and welcomed. Family will disagree and fight, but eventually will make up because the love they feel inside for each other is greater than any hate that is trying to insert itself into the relationship. When the love is gone call on God, but understand this, some people were not meant to be in your lives that is why they are no longer there. This goes for blood family members too! Some people don't mean you well and situations occur to get them removed from your happiness. Sad that it has to be this way but it is. We need that old thing back! That old loving and caring and seeing the family we love, the family we was born into as well as the new family members we accumulate along the way. I want to dance and make the younger children laugh, I want to sing to my wife and embarrass her in front of the family, I want to tell stories of how we grew up and throw an little lie in there about how we had it so bad. I want to be surrounded by people who are supposed to love me. I want for just one more time to taste my Aunt Dorothy's cakes, hear my dad's voice, listen to my uncle Bert's encouraging words and listen to the laughs of other my aunts and uncles, I want the hugs, I want to see the smiles of those who went on to help build the Kingdom, but more than anything I want to see families getting back together! Understand this, we are all family so speak when your out in public, pay a compliment, smile and when appropriate shake a hand and let someone know you care.

I love my family! My mom is still around and she makes me smile just by seeing her face. I hope that by reading this I have sparked up some good old memories for you the reader. Cry if you must! The tears are worth it! When you smile, and you will, remember where that smile originated from. Pull out those old photos and reminise! Let's go down memory lane today and remember our FAMILY! If at all possible let's rebuild that strong family unit we once had! WSY? RELATIONSHIPS! Keep it Positive!