{"id":33932,"date":"2025-09-03T18:41:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T22:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=33932"},"modified":"2025-09-18T09:54:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:54:28","slug":"monday-morning-moment-reflecting-on-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=33932","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Moment – Reflecting on Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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[Dave’s Mom, Our Adult Kids, Dave & Me – Not all the grands are on social media – but they begin the next generation of our family.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to write about family…well, this family right here. In fact, I want to write a letter to them. Feel free to read along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Family,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday was a sweet time celebrating our September birthday guys – Dave & Nathan. Father & First Son. You both are so dear to all of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To you siblings and siblings-in-law, I love you so much. In the early years, I had this wild idea about how, while we live in the same city, we would get together weekly – like for Sunday dinner – like in the TV show Blue Bloods<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[Blue Bloods – read the short piece<\/a> on how their weekly family gatherings shaped the show and character relationships.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don’t get together weekly, and that’s ok. When we do get together, it can be loud and opinionated, just like that TV family. However, it’s always rich – food for thought as well as body. Hope you leave each time, not just with a full tummy but, with the refreshed understanding of how much you are loved. Not just by Dad and me but by your siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[I’m a faithful documenter of people and special events. Always working on their patience. It means a lot when everyone cues up and smiles, but occasionally someone doesn’t feel like it…and that’s ok.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To our youngest: I know being the baby of the family<\/em> can get old, especially when you find yourself in your mid-30s. Hopefully you know that your opinions matter to your family. We want to know what you think… always. It made me sad that you were suffering from a headache through most of the meal yesterday. Please take heart that although we all don’t always agree on everything, we are grounded in love for each other. That’s priority and it will never change. Ever. I want to thank you for loving your family, too. You don’t have to show up and yet you do. There is a measure of hard in your life, different from ours, which would be easy for you to stay focused on. It gives us immeasurable joy when you are able to shake off the hard and laugh about “the old days”, tease your siblings and absorb their ribbing, and love on your nieces and nephews. It’s also no small thing how you serve us (me) – baking and straightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[Lots of Sibling Love Right Here]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the married siblings and their spouses: You have incredibly busy lives, and yet for those hours when we are together for the odd special occasion, time slows. You are present. You are engaged. You are yourselves. The flow of conversation is easy and animated. You roll with the skirmishes between little cousins and you parent them all so well. I hope you know how much you are loved. As your Dad (Dad-in-law) and I get older, we are so grateful for how you hang in there with us and each other. Family estrangement is so prevalent in our world today, but so far, we have weathered the storms. Your commitment to our family is something we do NOT take for granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[The Guys]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[The Big Sister & the Little Brother]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To any who are reading: all families are different. Within each family, there are tremendous differences in temperaments, preferences, and even worldview. Ruptures can happen and repair is hard to come by. Our Sunday birthday dinner reminded me of things learned over the last few years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n