Family

Well, here I am all doped-up on dramamene on the flight back to Dallas. Last weekend I visited Springfield, Illinois via St. Louis to go to my cousin Chelsea's wedding. My dad flew in from Denver and we rented a car and drove out for a day. I have extremely cool cousins who love the Lord and turned out really great, despite my uncle who was probably not a very good father. Or older brother, for that matter. All four of them seem like genuine, honest, fun-loving, mature adults.

It was because of may dad and my uncle's bad relationship that I didn't get to see my cousins very often. It is really a shame, because I think we would have gotten along very well. I told my oldest cousin, Chad, that I would love to get to know he and his wife more and make up for some lost time in childhood. I found out that she has family in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, so they are in town fairly often. I hope we'll get to spend some time with them again.

I've admired Dawn's family because they are still quite involved in eachother's lives. There is a considerable amount of drama, but mostly they just enjoy spending time together even though they are separated by several states in some cases. When someone dies or gets married, the whole family rallies to support those affected. Right now, in fact, my parents-in-law are out in Kansas to go to Grandpa's birthday party, install new central air-conditioning systems in one sister's house, and build a deck for another sister. I think that's cool.

I've often wondered what it will be like to raise children in the same city as my parents and sister. I'm excited for when that time comes. Until then, its back to looking for a summer job.