Those Were Good Times

This year has brought our family some really good times but also some really hard times.

I felt fear when mom was diagnosed with cancer again, and, even more fear when Dad seemed nervous.

I felt great sorrow when a dear sweet uncle was also diagnosed with cancer and deeper sorrow when we lost him.

There were surgeries, job losses, and just some hard days.

Thinking of these hard things it's amazing that I could fill more than 3o posts with funny thoughts on our family.

But that is the great thing about a family, as imperfect as the family unit is, there is always plenty of opportunities to just laugh, even if it's at Dad's expense.

I remember when Mom told me about our Uncle. She asked me to think about memories I have of him. All of them made me smile. I realized he and my Aunt and I had a connection. We both were raising or had raised lots of boys and one youngest girl.

I thought of the time the snakes got lost at their house. I laughed because I could see that happening at my house.

When we lived in the Turner street house Josh and I would dress as army men and play. I would take my shirt off, strap Josh's Sunday belt diagonally across my chest to hold my rifle. All I wanted was to be a boy named Howard.

In that same house Josh and I put a toilet out in Dad's garden (a big white bucket buried in the dirt) and pooped there rather than going inside. At this very moment Dad's feeling sick.

I also remember strangling Brad when I was left to babysit him, but being so proud when he did things like ride a bike at three. I thought, what a brilliant little brother I have. Even prouder when he burnt down the neighboring lot and the fire trucks were called. I bragged to my friends about that.

Then we had a baby sister. That was so exciting. All my friends were the youngest in their families and here I was with a mom having a baby. Which made me almost as cool as the kid with the broken leg. We all spent so much time making that baby laugh and loving her.

Last night when my family finished our video I sat and watched and thought-

First, I am a lucky woman because the man I married has some mad skills.

But also, how I will cherish this video forever as it captures a moment with my children when we were just purely having fun.

So when they grow up and drive me crazy. When our family is just as weird as the one I came from, I'll look back on this video and think-

Those were good times.