Exactly when the tradition started remains unclear. But sometime in the late 1960’s, my extended family began gathering yearly in Miami, Florida. At the time, our numbers were small: My grandparents, my aunt and uncle and their two children, my uncle and my dad. Years passed, more weddings, more babies, and by the late 1980s, our grand total hit the 20 people mark. In those days, my grandparents’ Miami apartment served as home base for our annual trek. They were “snowbirds,” those lucky people who head to warmer climates for the winter months. Part of our crew hailed from Texas, but the rest of us were Chicagoans, so we understood our grandparents' choice to escape the cold temperatures. Still, as a close clan, it was imperative that we not let the whole six months pass without seeing one another. We grandchildren numbered 11, and while our grandparents' apartment was spacious, it was arranged for their lifestyle as … [Read more...]
What I’ll Miss About This Summer…
For the first time in years, maybe ever, I found myself this summer with time to spare. Perhaps "to spare" is too generous. Rather, I found myself with time I could carve out in ways that I desired, instead of ways that were dictated to me by my work, my children, my parents, depending on the stage of life. This rare and exciting gift didn’t happen by accident. I crafted the situation. After Mr. C headed off to overnight camp, which you can read all about here and here, I decided to sign up my littlest guy, Mr.B, for five days a week of full time summer camp. He already had been going three days a week the first part of the summer, and Mr. B had done well at camp thus far. So I decided a little more consistency would do me him good. Second session began, and off he went, getting onto the bus every morning with his older sisters around 8:40 a.m., and then returning home with them on the bus every afternoon a little after 4 p.m. That gave this mama more than seven hours all to … [Read more...]
