la familia

i take so much for granted. i do not make enough effort with the people that i love. i am blessed to come from a very large family & most of them had never even met my daughter until yesterday.

growing up i went through a very selfish stage (as most adolescents do). i decided i wanted nothing to do with my extended family. they did nothing but disappoint me & i was done with them all. my mom is the youngest of 9 children, so if you figure in all of their children & even some grandchildren, i was ignoring quite a few people.

after my daughter was born i had an awakening. i have an amazing family. i have dozens of relatives who love me & would do anything for me. i have an amazing heritage to pass down to my daughter.

yesterday was my uncle david's 64th birthday. he has been in increasingly poor health the past few years & his family threw him a beautiful surprise party. it was just like the get-together's from my childhood. tons of relatives, some who i have not seen in years, some who i've always known but could never figure out how we are related (are you my great aunt or my 2nd cousin?). there were half a dozen new babies for the older ones to adore. there was a crappy d.j. playing the music way too loud & even a mariachi band to end the evening.

i am blessed to give this gift of family to my daughter. she will have dozens of cousins to play with & even more 2nd & 3rd cousins to watch her grow up. she will have kisses from great aunts & uncles & stories of great grandparents that she will never meet.

we will stop taking our families for granted because at the end of it all, this is who we are. this is where we came from.