Family Memories

I write this as I am sitting in my family’s beach house on St. George Island, in Florida. I come down here every year on Spring Break to spend time with my family on the beach. I have so many great memories here and I know I will continue to make more memories. Every year that we come down here, I am reminded of how great family time is and how precious it really is.

You would think that everyone has a family and yes this is true. However, even though you may have a family by birth, a true family is more than that. Family to me is a group of people you couldn’t imagine living with constantly, but you know you couldn’t live without them; they are people who are always there for you no matter what; they always provide a shoulder to cry on; they are the ones you want to laugh with; they are the ones you want to spend all of your time with. My family fits this definition perfectly. Although we sometimes get annoyed with each other, we know that we wouldn’t trade any one of us for the world.

I started coming to Florida when I was two; although I don’t remember as much back then, I still have some memories. As the years have gone on we have brought the same people back and we have brought others. (New faces are always nice because it mixes things up a bit.) While we are down here, it gives us all a chance to reconnect. Even though the immediate family all lives within three hours of each other, we don’t always get a lot of time together throughout the year. When we are all in the same house for a week, it gives us a chance to catch up and get involved in each other’s lives for a while.

While we have lost some who used to come down here with us, it really shows that family is truly an important thing. The memories we make down here and the bonds we form are priceless. Without some of this time, many of us would not be as close as we are. Although on week in a house with four bedrooms and ten people may seem to get a little crowed, it always seems to be fun. Yes, there may be times where we get a little “snippy” with each other, but we always remember that these times are irreplaceable. Family is more than blood, it is forming a bond and loving each other and wanting to spend as much time together as we can. I don’t know where I would be without my family, and boy am I ever so grateful for them.