Well, as if I needed another reminder of how quickly our lives move along their individual paths, I’m have a family reunion with my immediate family this week…doesn’t sound that impressive, I know, but my brother, sister, Mom and I have not all been together since my wedding–almost 40 years ago.\u00a0 No bad blood or anything, just spread out all across the country from Hawaii to Maryland, Ohio to California.<\/em><\/p>\n So, it’s a big deal for us and a big deal for Mom.\u00a0 Mom is 85 and had a minor stroke last year and is currently unable to travel to see all of us as she used to do once every year or so.\u00a0 It’s pretty amazing after all this time to get to spend these days together.\u00a0 So, I wanted to make a couple of observations:<\/em><\/p>\n 1)\u00a0 Keep in touch.\u00a0 I have to confess this is not something I’ve been good about at all.\u00a0 Most of my news and updates about my siblings came from my mom over the years and I didn’t speak to them for long periods of time.\u00a0 We weren’t upset with each other, just chose different paths, coming of age in the late 1960’s to early ’70’s.\u00a0 As you\u00a0may know, that was a time of upheaval among young people and it impacted each of us differently.\u00a0\u00a0I won’t go into any particulars, just say that by the time all of us had settled into our adult lives, several years had passed without any consistent contact and that seemed to set the pattern for the next few decades.\u00a0 I have regrets about those missed years.<\/em><\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0It’s never too late.\u00a0 If you’ve had family or friend relationships that you’ve neglected, start now.\u00a0 Pick up the phone, send an email…don’t wait\u00a0until one of you experiences a traumatic event to get on the right page.\u00a0 Don’t let\u00a0your past relationship affect the quality of your future one.\u00a0Tell\u00a0the people you care about that you love them.\u00a0 What matters now is\u00a0what will be.\u00a0 Don’t\u00a0just think about getting\u00a0reconnected–DO IT.<\/em><\/p>\n My\u00a0Mom is so happy…and so am I.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, as if I needed another reminder of how quickly our lives move along their individual paths, I’m have a family reunion with my immediate family this week…doesn’t sound that impressive, I know, but my brother, sister, Mom and I have not all been together since my wedding–almost 40 years ago.\u00a0 No bad blood…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[27,28,26],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-observations","tag-keep-in-touch","tag-never-too-late","tag-reunion"],"yoast_head":"\n