Speaking Of Family

The family member I spoke of in my post yesterday died in their sleep overnight. Instead of writing a post about them I say a few words about my family as a whole in their honor.

One of my favorite parts about my family is when we all come together for family dinners. In my lifetime, I have had the pleasure of living close to both my mother's and father's sides of the family.

Family dinner with my mother's side is crazy. Between my aunt, uncle, cousins and cousin's kids we are a large group. Seriously, everyone combined gives the Duggar's a run for their money. When I was attending college I went out to dinner with my family a lot. (Obviously I also attended a lot of family dinners as well.) Needless to say, we are a sizable group and I quickly learned that the only way you can get a word in edgewise during the conversation was to just jump in. However, that wasn't always the case. I had to learn that skill. Periodically, if there was something I wanted to say I would raise my hand and patiently wait my turn. Clearly I wasn't in school, but it was my special way of saying I wanted in on the conversation and I was going to wait as long as I needed to. I have to say it got the attention of those at the table. For all the craziness, I have a special fondness for the chaos those family dinners brought.

A side of my family that I have had many family dinners with over the course of my life is with family on my father's side. This includes all my brothers and sils, nieces and nephews and extended family. This crowd is not as large as the mentioned above. However, dinners with them are just as special. For me one of the things that stands out most from these dinners is the level of conversation. Not that the conversation at other family dinners I've attended are shabby. It's just that I find the topics of conversation at these dinners to span a great spectrum. One minute we're talking pop culture and the next religion, politics or psychology. Other times we're reminiscing about the past and making fun of one another.

These are just one of many reasons I enjoy family dinners and I am thankful to have these people in my life.

Until later . . .