Family Time

Family time….

I just got back from family vacation in Mexico… it was such a beautiful, fun, relaxing wonderful time. It also came with its challenges. The vacation was for family to spend time together with grandma. Grandma’s health has been deteriorating the past year and half and we all wanted to spend some quality time with her. I live far from my family and I haven’t seen them in a year. It was very challenging to see my grandmother’s functioning having deteriorated so much.

It was such a blessing to see her sitting there watching us all interact and having the biggest smile on her face. Her moments of clarity brought tears to our eyes and lifted our spirits. Everything was worth just one smile from her. She seemed so happy to be surrounded by family even if all she could do was sit and watch. I think we tired her out just by having her do that.

This was a new experience for me, one in which I’ll take away many lessons. Every second with her on vacation was precious, I tried to soak it all in. I also wished that it didn’t take a vacation to make this happen.

I hope that you can take some extra time soon to really spend a day or few hours with a loved one, soaking in their presence, appreciating the looks they give you, the love in their eyes, their touch, and voice. Let yourself be in the moment. Sometimes the time we spend with others were distracted by other things and it’s like we didn’t spend time with them at all. We’re thinking of our to-do list, we have an agenda, were thinking about stress. I challenge you to be more present with those your with… don’t pick up the phone. I hope that you can have some time soon like I had with grandma to just BE with them.

God’s peace,

Cherie