Life can sometimes be overwhelming, hectic, and chaotic. Schedules are forever packed with meetings, work, extracurricular activities, and errands. The list goes on and on, and before you know it you feel like your head is under water. You are drowning in life’s busyness without taking a moment to breathe. What life is all about, passion, creativity, family, and joy, gets put on the back burner. When you take a second to look up from the chaos, time has simply slipped by. Kids have grown another year older, friends have been neglected, and you can’t quite remember the last time you spoke with your sibling. This was all of our lives last year and thanks to my brother’s planning, we made our family a priority for a weekend getaway to San Diego.
We all crammed into one beach house, all 9 of us. We made our meals together at the house with beach stops in between. The Pacific was right around the corner, a short jaunt to sun, sand, and fun. There were sand castles, and sand forts, seashell collections and beach football, beach strolls and good conversations. It was good ole fashion family fun.
On Sunday, we headed into the city to Balboa Park. The beautiful gardens provided a colorful backdrop for some long awaited family photos.
My family is strung across the country from California to Utah to Texas. The distance makes family gatherings few and far between, with months between visits. Our weekend reunion in San Diego was the epitome of a purposeful and dedicated effort to prioritize family. 2018 will hold more frequent family gatherings as I finish my residency and have a life again. I can’t wait to cheer on my niece and nephew at various sports games, take time for arts and crafts with them, and see them continue to blossom into the beautiful souls they are. I look forward to spending time with my family over Christmas, the first Christmas home in years, and more late night talks with my siblings. There is so much to be grateful for, and these people top the list.