Sharing our Families

Today has been a great day.  It was the birthday day for my in-laws.  4 of them have their special day this month as well as an anniversary for another couple this month too.  We traveled over to share the day, gifts, laughter and of course cakes.  But was surprised at the freak snow that showed up here in Central Texas.  Not a sight we get very often at all.  No it was not much at all but still those big ol fat fluffy flakes falling from the sky is always a surprise for us.

On the ride home I started telling Dear Hubby about a book that had some neat tidbits in it.  "How Eskimos Keep their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting around the World" was great in showing all the different ways we parent.  And raised questions I had just not thought of too.  Seeing where so many children around here feel they are the center of the world (and of course we want to let them know they are loved), it was refreshing to know that many cultures still have their children learning the responsibilities of the home and family.  That bed time does not have to be a stickler of an evening when they do not have to raise at the crack of dawn.  And more so there is not baby food per say.  Instead you can introduce your child to different foods as they are able to handle the texture of them.  If we were able to hold international parenting courses what would change.  Would we use the method Chinese do in potty training?  Would fathers change their roles in child rearing?  Could we open up to new ideas and share some of our own too?  What results would there be in the maturity of our children as they grow?  I loved this look at different cultures written with enough heart to share.

This all reminds me of the resilience that we have as parents.  Somehow once we have a child our ability to bear pain becomes a deep well.  Weather it is from the moment of child birth or hearing those first harsh words spoken from anger of an upset child to doubling over in agony when we can not save them from themselves.  My own mother lost a child at birth and my mother in law lost a son in his teens as well as my Dear Hubby lost a step son in his teens too.  Soul wrenching grief overtakes a person when they are bearing this loss.  And in time we start to heal.  But if this happens and then your other children take paths of personal destruction then it is even deeper pain that you have to overcome.  "Snapshots" is Cathy's memoir of just such a life.  

Cathy Sosnowsky not only experienced the loss of her son, Alex, at the young age of 17, but also her two adopted children, Michael and Tanya.  However, these two younger children weren't to a freak accident, but to the allure of drugs, alcohol and the mean streets.  Cathy tells of how she dealt with her pain and suffering through her poignant and, sometimes humorous, memoir; Snapshots A Story of Love, Loss, and Life.  I know that many tears graced my cheeks while I was reading this one.  But more so I loved the message of how love can heal.  There is always that gift given to us to bear up with the trials of life.

I enjoyed my day of family.  More so when I remembered just how families come to being.  Weather if be from birth and being siblings or by choice in marriage.  The best part of families are that we choose to love each other however we came to being connected.