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We are family

Hey, y’all! So, last night, guess what I did? I crossed something off my bucket list!

I, along with two little brothers and one little sister, went to Charleston to see Garth Brooks.

Now, let me preface this by saying, I never listen to country music anymore. Actually, we pretty much listen to worship music with the exception of this time of year, because we are, of course, playing Christmas music. Fa la la la la.

But, I locw Garth Brooks! My little sister and I have many memories of rocking out to Garth’s “Greatest Hits” album on our various road trips throughout the years.

I’m not sure I can tell you the last time the four of us “kids” actually did something together, just the four of us. In fact, it might not have ever happened, now that I ponder it.

I, being the oldest, am quite a bit older than the three of them. I was 8 when “Cheese” was born, 10 when “Emme” was born, and 13 when the “Baby” came along. So, in a lot of ways, I feel like a mama to them, as much as they dislike that.

And to be totally honest, we aren’t as close as I’d like to be. In fact, there have been times when we are more like acquaintances. But, the opportunity to spend a night hanging out with them was something I was more than happy to accept and had been looking forward to.

Anytime the four of us are together, we have a blast.

Since losing our mama, we haven’t done a very good job at staying connected and keeping our relationship strong, but I’m starting to see a shift in that and am believing that God will keep doing what He’s doing.

I’ve always had these grand visions of huge family holidays and even bigger family vacations where all of our kids frolic in the ocean waves together and the four of us siblings stay up all hours of the night reminiscing about childhood memories and all the things we did that our parents didn’t know about, all while the grandparents are sleeping quietly in the other room, worn out from adventuring all day with the multiple grandchildren.

Yeah, that’s never going to happen. First of all, mom is gone. So no grandma left. Dad hates the beach, so the probability of getting him on a family vacay is almost as good as a third party candidate winning our upcoming election.

And the fact that only one out of the three of them is married, and the one that is consistently tells anyone and everyone that she will never have children, pretty much ends my aspirations of any frolicking; and especially my hopes for nieces and nephews.

I’m still holding out hope though! God is a God of miracles! (That’s what it’s going to take to get nieces and nephews from my brothers!)

But last night was great. It might not have been a big family dinner, or a week at the beach, but it was a night when we did get to reminisce about childhood memories, and we did get to laugh about all of the things we did as children and, more importantly, we got to remember that we are family, and we really do love each other.

Debbie and her husband, Chad, have three children. She is a full-time home school mom, a part-time children’s pastor and a director with Classical Conversations. She can be reached at cdware2002@yahoo.com.

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