Anticipation!

I am moments away from getting together with my sisters for a family-fun-filled Mother's Day weekend. I'm all a glistening from the inside out with anticipation for the 36 hours (more or less) that we have in store.

What are our plans? Absolutely nothing more than getting together with our brother and Mom to go out for supper tonight. Mom and her children.

We are so incredibly blessed. There is no underlying tension among any one of us. We are each other's cheering section, support system, friend, confidant and ... we just so happen to be related. I could not have hand picked a better family to be a part of. And, as with a tremendous group of friends that I know ... I sit back in awe, at times. Marvelling that I am part of such a special group.

As I begin the process of collecting memories for Dad's family's history book and I've already gone through the process of collecting Mom's memories ... I love hearing of the people that they were before they were married.

I listen to Dad's traits and stories that my uncles tell me about him. I've listened to Mom recall many of her childhood memories and the person she was as a child. I have heard how about my grandparents morals, work ethics, personalities and beliefs formed their families and how many of these traits were carried on through Mom and Dad, in raising us. I love what I hear ... and I love how I feel a part of this family because I feel and act very similar.

Is it in the genes ... or is it the environment in which we were raised? Perhaps a little of both. But from what I know and what I feel, I could not ask for a better family to be a part of. My only hope is that I can pass this down to my own children. What better legacy to leave behind, than that of family ...