Family and Friends

Today I had the interesting experience of attending 2 parties in one day! Wow, you say ! How could you handle it - 2 whole parties, what a jammed packed social calendar! But really it was not the quantity of parties but it was the actual quality of the parties. This afternoon I got to attend a family party - now you must understand that my family is different (to put it nicely) and we have gone through our share of ups and downs. Recently (as in since I moved from Chicago) there was quite a bit of drama and family functions tended to be more stressful than ever. My family is super close and no one ever moves away, so when I packed up my kids and moved it caused quite a stir! Now I know this may seem really strange, most people I know have family members all over the country and see each other once maybe twice a year. Not my family, we all grew up together in the same neighborhood in Chicago and we did EVERYTHING together. So when I moved out here, Jim and I made great friends and pulled away from the family a little (OK a lot.) We started doing stuff on our own and skipped out on several family functions, to say the least, it did not go over well. But over the last few months I feel like I have really reconnected with my family and things have been going well. The party today was all that I could have hoped for. The kids had a great time; there was a giant inflatable water slide, face painting and a bounce house (what more could a kid ask for?) There was incredible food (one of my cousins wants to open his own restaurant) and great company. I got to spend some quality time with my family and catch up on all of their summer happenings. All in all it was a great afternoon. The kids (well the girls ) packed up and went home with one of my Aunts to see her new puppy; while Jim and I (along with Aodhan who backed out of going overnight to my aunts) headed back to the burbs for Tim Raad's birthday party. Also, another great party! I had some really great conversations with the girls , the boys played the wii and of course, Jim wrestled with all the kids. There were a couple moments where I just sat back and observed, I really enjoy the awesome dynamic that is our group. I've never experienced these types of friendships before. Maybe it is because I am getting older and I really am understanding the importance of maintaining friendships, maybe it is because I'm older and there is no longer so much pettiness, or maybe it is just that my friends really are that awesome !!! But I really am aware of the fact that what we have is rare, I have never met a group of men and women who get along so well, all of our husband are great friends and us girls are so close it is amazing. I guess what I am really becoming aware of as I mature (yes that is just another way to say getting older) is that people really do make or break things ! It is the people you spend your time with that make events fun - it is the people that make the memories, give me a great group of people and I could have fun in a cardboard box!! I have come to realize that family is important and so are friends ( after all friends are just the family you choose for yourself) I really do love my family and friends, I couldn't ask for any better !!!!!!