Family

   There is a saying which goes (I think); "You can choose your friends, but God alone chooses your family."

   While we are all together up here in Tennessee, I think about how much our family has been blessed. Mayre (or Granny Lou) and I have always marveled how our family can be apart so much of the time, because of where we all live, and still fit together when we have these times of reunion. The kids get along, even with the disparity of their ages from 18 to 6. The adults like to play together, talk or just hang out together. Husbands and wives, kids and spouses, old and young, seem to be on the same page. The individual lives are separate, but there is a distinct togetherness when we meet for a few days.

   For us the pleasure is not just the play and the talk, but the realization that things are not forced, but a feeling of "I really want to be here in this place at this time".

   Memories are built that will be shared at future gatherings. In the years to come we believe that some of the things we did and said here these few days will be in that "remember when we..." category of memories.

   We are blessed that God did choose to put us all in the same family.

   Very blessed indeed.

   Amen