A Visit With My Parents

I went the Delray to visit my parents this past weekend. It was a very pleasant visit. One of the most pleasant I can remember. I spent time alone with my parents until my mother's brother came from Sarasota and stayed overnight. The following morning my brother, his wife and youngest son came over and we all had a long, loud, talkative breakfast together. It was wonderful.

I really miss my family at times. Not always, but more and more asI get older. I live in a town where I have no relatives. The closest family to me is 300 miles away. I have to plan to see them. No inpromptu visits, like my brother did this past weekend. No get togethers to share a single meal and then back to our own homes. I usually plan visits when I have a 3 day weekend. The 5+ hours there and then back takes a bite out of the time I would spend with them. In fact, when I fly to NY to see my sister the whole trip takes about 5 hours with transport to and from both airports and the flight.

This past weekend my mother gave me a wonderful gift. She has spent the last several months creating a memory book for me. It starts with photos of my great grandparents when they were young and includes photos and mementos through 2006, with recent photos of my grand nephew Zack, the yougest member of our family. The book is wonderful. It is in a cherry wood binder, with beautifully decorated pages. There are many photos of favored relatives, my maternal grandmother, my paternal grandfather, my Aunt Lena, cousins Camille, Ginny and Linda, my Uncle Joe and godparents Aunt Madeline and Uncle Phil, my father's brother Marty and Aunt Pat. Lots of pictures of me and my brother and sister when we were kids, and photos of my parents when they were young and energetic.

The book I will cherish, but it also makes me sad. So many of those people are gone and I loved them so much. Not only for who they were but for how good I always felt around them. This was my family and when I was with them I felt loved and knew I belonged to the best group of people in the whole world. I miss them and seeing them this past weekend and remembering them when they looked certain ways, or at events I remember fodly made me miss them all the more.

While most of the people I have loved in my life are gone now - family and friends - I am richer for them having been in my life. I couldn't separate them out from my DNA if I wanted to. Their lives and love are imbedded in my genes, in my memories, in my personality and will be for as long as I am alive.