Family Talk

Since my wife has pointed out to me that I tend to not include my family in some of my posts, it appears the blog seems to be all about me. I assure you this is not the case, or at least not my intention. I only included them indirectly, or only in mentioning, less frequently as to protect my family from those people on the Internet that would want to cause us harm, if you know what I mean.



It has been a long spring and beginning of summer. I've traveled quite a bit across the Midwest and have spent my off time with the family. So let's catch up a little bit....



Felicia and I took the kids to Cumberland Gap and Cumberland Falls for the weekend. We did a bit of hiking and ended up getting rained on some. Miley was soaked (the family pet). But the point is we all had fun. Spending time together makes those family memories that will last a life time. As my girls grow into their teens, I know my time is deminishing quickly, so I try to make the most of it.



I've found that as we progress with technologies, such as twitter, facebook, Blackberries, Iphone, and such... we are spending less time together as a family, unless of course you keep a text count. Now I'm not against technology, surely you know this by now, but it tend to get out of balance. It is ok to turn them off once in a while.

Once upon a time families sat down to dinner and ate together. They had conversations about their daily activities, they were "fully present" to steal a term from the book "Fish!". They built relationships with each other. They were in tune if you will. Families now just pass each other on the way to activities. And an occasional vacation if you're lucky. I wish it wasn't so but this is reality. Life has become fast paced and a long marathon.

My family enjoys time together when we can. Now we get our fair amount of TV time and things, but we make it a point to spend quality time with each other. My wife and I enjoy watching DVD together, and we try to "date night" when we can. Evenings sitting around the fire ring in the back yard, or an afternoon of hiking.

We recently spend the Holiday weekend camping at my good friend Eddie's Lake, which lead to swimming, fishing, a lot of talking, and too much food of course (smoked pork loin, chicken, burgers, dogs, and everything to go with it. Hungry yet?)



Everyone has to figure out what works for their family, but talking is a good start.

Short Story...

In Jan '95 I was deployed to Haiti for Operation Uphold Democracy while I was still in the army. For the next 93 days I told myself that if I ever got back home to my girl, I would never leave her again. Well of course I was a bit naive and life has brought me to a place where I travel as part of my career, but not a day goes by that I don't talk with my family, and make it a point to 'tuck' them in a night, and pray together.



Life is short, and as said well in a song by 33 miles (One life to love) we only get one time around, one shot at this... One life to Love.

Don't miss the opportunity to spend time on something valuable; relationships. There will always be time for work, time for TV, time to waste, but don't let life pass you by. Invest in your family the time you spend has huge paybacks.

Remember Look up, Live life, and be Thankful


Kevin