The More Things Change

I have spent this morning loading pictures from the family reunion I went to last May onto my computer. This was the first time in over 15 years that all nine siblings in my family were together -- probably the first time since my father's funeral in 1973 that we all spent an extended amount of time together. The fact that there was no bloodshed is a minor accomplishment in and of itself.




Mom was so happy to have all of her kids back together, even if she can barely remember our names because of her illness. One of the things we did that day was to recreate a picture that was taken of us when we were younger (much, much younger). I am going to post both of them here for you to see.



The top picture is how we all looked in 1963, just a few months after my youngest brother Mat was born. I am the beautiful one at the bottom right.

Fast forward to 2006 and here we are, older, heavier, greyer, but all still alive, praise God. In this picture, because Mat was a little too big to sit on Tina's lap, as he did in the first picture I am slightly behind him on the right.


I think I have blogged before about my struggles with family relationships. I am really not what you would call close with any of my siblings, but I do love them all and pray for them every day. I am the person I am today because of the family in which I grew up.


I just hope we don't wait another 15 to 25 years to all get together again. For all the minor frustrations of the weekend, it was really fun being around them for a little while. And, no one called me names, at least not to my face.


Pax