Tuesday, January 5, 2016

a coworker has the best...

...stories to tell about her family, and how much they like each other. It amazes me every time I talk with her and she tells me something new. They have so  much fun together, and seem to get along so well. I tell her every time she has another story to tell how fortunate she is. For any number of reasons: among them being that they all live right here in town, and can get together to celebrate anything or nothing.

They like each other so much they take vacations together. She told me they have rented a van and traveled together to Disney World. How can  they spend all that time in a vehicle and still want to spend time with each other in the park, then stay together in a condo., and get along well enough to not kill anyone before they get back in the van to return home? They went to Tennessee last summer, and had a great time doing all the fun things there are to do in and around downtown Chattanooga.

They spend the whole day together on a holiday, just enjoying being with siblings, in-laws and assorted cousins/kids. I am forever telling her how lucky she is that they are so congenial and love to be with their family. And now I realize one of the neatest things about this happy group is that when they get together, the kids are always there: with the adults interacting, talking, laughing.

So while the parents are cooking, visiting, talking about work. life, sharing experiences, the kids are right there, underfoot, observing how their moms and dads are acting around brothers and sisters. Seeing for themselves, and storing up knowledge for the future, watching how their parents, relatives, in-laws and family friends can get along with each other. Seeing people who can disagree, make decisions, discuss problems, resolve conflicts and still love each other. Seeing those adults model the kind of compassionate, caring loving behavior they will hopefully have when they grow into adults with families of their own.

No comments:

Post a Comment