Time

Posting a gratitude every day may prove to be a bigger challenge than I thought, with the ground rules I set for myself. I havent experienced much today in the outside world. It was another good day to stay hunkered down from the cold. The sun finally came out around 2pm and started melting off some of the snow on the streets. They were more slushy than icy, but sunshine means good travel weather and I'm leaving to take my mom to her sister's in AZ tomorrow morning.

I'm really grateful I got to spend the holidays this year, not just with my awesome mom, but with extended family as well. Facebook has been a wonderful tool for reconnecting with family members. I wish I could have seen more cousins this year (Katie, Gene, Jamie, Donny), but there's always another fish fry to look forward to.

So, today, I'm grateful for family and the opportunity to see how the generations grow and pass on to the next ones. At Christmas dinner we were talking about our grandmother, and while I was at my mom's I got to see pictures of my great grandfather and great-great grandparents, courtesy of pictures our Cousin Ginny (whom we've never met) had sent. So I'm looking at pictures of my great great grandparents, and scanning and uploading pictures of my great nieces and nephews on to my mom's Facebook page. Seven (!) generations of a bloodline, and it made me think all philosophically of the passage of time and people. I'm in the middle category of family currently living. And someday, I'll be the oldster and Zach and Brinley and Athena will be the middle-agers, with their children being the focus of attention as we watch more generations grow.

The cliches and adages of time's passing and marching on may be trite. But to truly see it manifest in your own family before your eyes, is not only a little mind boggling, but a little amazing and awe-inspiring as well. So that's what I've experienced recently that I'm thankful for.