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August 21, 2004
St. Paul Saints
Tonight my whole family went to the Saints game. My dad, my mom, brothers, sister, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, second cousins were all there. It seemed like we had about 10 carloads full. We went early to have a tailgate party and then watch the game. That was the best part! It’s really a festive atmosphere and a nice excuse to get together with family.
We were all there at or a little before 5pm to get parking spots next to each other. One of my uncles brought a gas grill and was the grill master for the evening. Each family brought food to share, so it was easy. Sitting around in our lawn chairs and folding camping chairs, we ate and talked for an hour and a half before the game started.
At 6:45 we went into the stadium to find our seats. We had pretty good seats close to first base with a good view. It was nice because my sister bought all of the tickets in advance and we were all sitting next to each other in a big rectangular section of the bleachers.
As I was growing up, these are the same Aunts and Uncles I remember playing softball with as a large extended family. I remember going to sporting events and the state fair with them. It seemed like we saw a lot of them. The greatest part of having this large extended family was spending time with them. It’s still true today. We find it difficult to pass up family gatherings and always look forward to them.
Like every family there are always difficult and dark times, like when one of my Aunts got a divorce, and when my Grandparents passed away. But those are things that happen in life and during those dark times it’s much better to have a strong supportive family than to be going through it alone. Life is about sharing and loving each other. There is a great value in having families like this.
As we go through the years we are all facing challenges of our own. Is it better to face them alone or to face them and know we are not alone? I’d chose a good support network of family over being alone any day. Because not only do we receive from them, but we also give to them.
One of the great mysteries and truths in this life is that we are all related. We are all one family. Just like some dysfunctional families though, we have our rough spots. We don’t always have the best relationships with some of our Aunts and Uncles or cousins. Why is that? We are all equal in God’s eyes and all loved equally. Out of everything we do in life, one of the most important is taking care of our family. We can use any excuse to get together with each other. We can look forward to it too! As a part of the global family, the human race, which is all part of God’s family, life could be so much better if we learned to share with each other and love each other.
The baseball game? Oh I forgot about that. That was part of the intermission entertainment I think. ;-)
Posted by carl1236 at August 21, 2004 09:41 PM | Love your Neighbor