Motivational Monday – Family Ties

What makes your family special, unique, or quirky? Think of a story, one situation with the kids, your parents, an aunt, or uncle, what happened that made you smile? Now share that story with another family member and let them experience your smile.

Did you know that in the “olden days” our ancestors used storytelling as a way of sharing family history. Today, with technology all around us, there are a variety of ways to share our family history. There’s blogging, vlogging, creating videos, picture collages, and poetry slams, to name a handful.

Quite often my sons provide fodder for my blog posts, it may be a funny statement they make or something off the wall that they do. Allow me to share a recent story.

I hopped in my car, flipped the sun visor down, turned the radio on and the air conditioner, and got on the expressway. I was ready for my 35 minutes excursion; except I drove right into bumper to bumper traffic. Construction. It took 25 minutes to drive five miles. An hour after I began driving, I finally reached my mom’s house.

It was an enjoyable day with mom, we had lunch, and chatted until about 9pm. It was close to 9:30pm as I packed away my laptop and headed for home. As I was backing out of my mom’s driveway, I heard my phone ding. I shifter the car into park and read the message. It was from my son.

“Ma, grab some laundry detergent from the store on your way home.”

I scrunched my face and talked back to the screen – laundry detergent?!  I called my son.

“Are you really going to wash clothes tonight? I am NOT stopping at a store. I may have to fight through construction on the way home.”

Did he really believe I was going to stop at the store, in the middle of the night (it may as well have been midnight in my eyes)? My son and I agreed that he didn’t have anything so dirty that it couldn’t wait until the next day. Besides, if he hadn’t used an overflowing cup of detergent each time he washed a small load, there would have been some left.

By the time I made it home, my son and I shared a few minutes of laughter about his request. Then it was off to a quiet spot for me and video games for him. Our day ended with a smile. It doesn’t always happen this way, but when it does, it’s refreshing.

Below is a collection of our family memories.

What family ties have you created lately? Go out and create a few smiles.