Gratituesday ~ Family ~ 11/6/12

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Participating in the "30 Days of Gratitude" challenge has made me realize how little time I spend being truly thankful for all my blessings.  Today I found this link-up that encourages a blog post each week specifically for being grateful.  I'm now quite sure the direction I'm going to take with this but for this particular week, I'm just going to write.

It has been a very difficult week.  I mentioned Friday that one of my cousins had very unexpectedly passed away last Wednesday.  He was only 27 years old.  It appears that he passed away from Congestive Heart Failure.  Unthinkable!  But not impossible.

The visitation was Sunday afternoon and the funeral was yesterday.  So very difficult.  My poor aunt and uncle are suffering greatly and their younger son, who is a high school senior, is heartbroken as well.  Please pray for them.

What is really bothering me a great deal is that although we were first cousins and lived a total of 6 blocks from each other, we haven't really been around one another since we were young.  I didn't really get to know him as an adult.  This is what is really killing me right now.  Time wasted.  Never to get back.

It seems these days, family gatherings are so few and far between with maybe a yearly reunion at best.  Things always seem to come up and even keep us from gathering then.  I know I have been remiss in this.

Why does it take a tragedy to bring family together?  Why don't we celebrate each other more while we can?

I, for one, hope and pray that I can learn from this lesson.

I love my family.  From my immediate family to my extended family.  I am so grateful for them all.  I hope that I can start taking the time to show them that more often.

I hope that you will also learn from this lesson.  Pick up the phone.  Write that note.  Send that birthday card.  Even better, drop by for a visit.  Face time is so meaningful and important.

Let's try to have more personal relationships with the ones we love and be grateful for every day we are given to be together.