Family is Everything

We can't pick our family. No matter how often we get frustrated with our family, whether it be brothers and sisters or aunts, cousins or grandparents, we are stuck with them. Fortunately for myself, I love my family. This weekend I spent almost the entire weekend with my family members, which is a rarity anymore because of the responsibilities of being a full-time college student. I went to a golf outing with my dad Saturday morning, had my grandma's 70th surprise birthday party in the evening, went to lunch with my dad on Sunday, then got to sit down and chat with my mom and her mom and dad, whom I call Nana and Papa, after that. It has been a very long time since I have spent that much time with my family and it really made me thankful that I have an awesome family.

The Short (my mom's maiden name) grandkids
 with Nana and Papa

One of my favorite family traditions is going up north to my nana and papa's on Christmas Eve. They live in the middle of Wauseon and Napoleon. Driving up there for dinner with my mom and dad, eating with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles, then going to their church for their Christmas Eve service is something we have done ever since I can remember. After the service is over we come back to nana and papa's to open up Christmas gifts. The memories from those Christmas Eves have been some of the fondest that I've had. There are only boy grandchildren on that side of the family. There are seven of us, one just graduated college, two are currently in college, two in high school and one that is just starting first grade and another that is in kindergarten. Growing up, the older boys would always have ping pong tournaments or play with Lincoln Logs in the basement. Now that we're all older, we usually spend time catching up because we are all so busy and don't get to talk to each other as much. It's amazing to be talking about my oldest cousin's job and many of the other things that we are all doing now, watching all these kids become adults, including myself. I don't get to see my mom's side of the family as much as I would like to, but I cherish every moment that we are together.

An old picture of the Fleming (my granpa's last name) grandkids.
I'm pictured the third from the left. 

Most of my dad's side of the family still lives in Ada or close to it, so I get to see them quite frequently. It's nice being able to go over to my grandma and grandpa's anytime and see what they are eating to dinner or watch the Indians game with my grandpa. When I was younger, two of my cousins and myself would go over to their house on every Thursday. The three of us lived in Ada and it was a nice way to spend time with one another and spend time with grandma and grandpa as well. As we got older, we couldn't make as many Thursday and eventually we were all too busy to go but the years that we were able to definitely hold a big place in my memory bank. There are eight us grandchildren on my dad's side, four girls and four boys. Any time my dad's side gets together, we are always laughing and making fun of each other. It's actually quite vulgar sometimes, or most of the time, but it is always fun to be around them.

I could probably write an entire book about my entire family and the dysfunctional people that make me feel lucky to be a part of them. I'll keep it short for this blog though and give just a hint of how my family acts. I love them all and couldn't have asked for anything better. I understand this is not how everyone feels about their family and it is very unfortunate if that is the case. I just wanted to share with you that I am one of the lucky ones and I do enjoy spending time with my family. I'm thankful for them everyday so hopefully they read this post so I don't have to be all sappy in person with them.