We made them
London, ON, October 2010
I thought I'd wind down this week's "family" theme (go here if you want to squeeze in a last-minute pic of your own) by closing the loop a bit. We started the theme with the five of us, and I'll end it with the three folks we've been busy raising for 16, 13 and 10 years, respectively.
Not a day goes by that I don't shake my head at some point and wonder how we ended up being the parents of three intensely uniquem bright and engaging children. Once upon a time, they didn't exist, and now, an entire world, our world, revolves around them.
It's a world that gives me slivers of grey hair, tiny-but-growing wrinkles at the corners of my eyes and a general feeling of fatigue that never seems to go away. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. Because of the three mini-Levys in this picture, our family's life has taken on a life of its own. They define who we are, challenge us right up to - and beyond - our perceived limits and never let us forget how much they matter.
Watching them interact with others and with each other is a joy to behold, and I'm glad we've been blessed with the opportunity not just to be parents, but to be their parents.
This is what family means to me, and it's been a privilege to explore it with you all this past week.
Your turn: How do you define the word "family"?
One more thing: Our new Thematic Photographic theme launches tonight - 7:00 p.m. Eastern, so I hope you'll come on back and make this next theme one to remember. What is that theme? Ooh, I suspect you'll like it:
Favorite photos of the year
Even better, we'll be exploring this theme for three consecutive weeks (!) So start churning some ideas around what you'd like to share, and pop back in after 7 tonight to start sharing. This is going to be fun.
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10 comments:
Family is a lot like marriage- give and take, forgiveness, loyalty, trust, humor.. It is also growth in everyone...It is a privilege to be a parent as well as a privilege to have healthy children...Its a learning experience for everyone..An enrichment all the way around...
Hi Carmi- one more post on the Thamtic Family week:
http://juluca27.blogspot.com/2010/12/thematic-photograph-127-family.html
oops-forgive the typos..pre-coffee (Thematic)
Your post inspired the word 'miracle' when I think of family. And in these troubled times, perhaps it is.
Happy Family Week, Carmi.
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you made them, indeed. Now they remake you, daily.
We're a blended family, which means that family is whoever is in the house at the time. :)
I joke, but there's truth to it. We can't/don't care about parentage - everybody gets loved. You can work your way through almost anything if you do it with love.
Like you, sometimes I am amazed at how my children have taken over my life, how important they are to me.
And I wouldn't trade it for anything.
my son and your family is beautiful
family.........in one way that's so easy for me to relate to becaise I was raised in a secure family
+ then i was 50% of the parental unit of my family......until that unit split
so it gets messy for me now
who is/ was family now?
one that was, isn't...for me
but is for my children
and one who wasn't..now is..for me
but not for my children
and then there's that whole belonging thing
who belongs to who?
and how?
and at what point do friends become family?
Once it was so straightforward
I understood family really well
Now it's messy and I understand it less
I am also noticing that I am not alone.
I feel exactly the same way about our son. In fact, I wonder (and worry?) about people who never stop and think this way about their own children. They typically are the types who love TV's for their ability to babysit children.
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