Shalon - posted on 07/04/2011 ( 3 moms have responded )
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I often wonder what's happened to the sense of family these days. Growing up I remember regular get togethers at an Uncle's home for special occassions, my husband remembers the same. Unfortunately it seems when the oldest family members died off, the get togethers quickly ended and it seemed family drama surfaced, at least with my family it did. With my husband it was a little different, joining the Marines and never returning home he and I met and we built our little family.
In the beginning we lived 1000+ miles away from any family, content in that, as the kids came it felt as though something was missing. We had regular visits from my MIL and my mother yearly, and my mother lived with us for 6 months before she left to go back to her home state. Finally, we moved back to my home state where my mohter is and a 3-4 hours away from my husbands Mom and family. Even now somethign is missing. Though my mother is regularly involved we have not been visited by my MIL in two years, since we moved closer to her, we've suffered through mulitple trips to visit my husbands grandparents just so they could see their great grandchildren. It's tough to travel in a van with 5 kids but we made the effort to somehow incorporate the sense of family. Unfortunately, we can't travel anymore, our cars can't make the trips, they can barely get to work, our budget is so tight we can't afford the gas, etc either. And... we found out my mother is retiring and not staying here in the same town with us.
Supporting my mother I have not complained and cheer her on, however, I am saddened that we'll again be in a place with no family. I often think of moving to just have that family sense often for my children but I wonder if it's really that important, if it's just something I miss because my children have never known of Christmas gatherings, July 4th events, or Easter egg hunts.
I feel as though we, as a culture have become so self absorbed, trying to find a better us through high life careers and money that we've left behind the sense of family.
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