I just spent a week cooped up in a small cabin with six adults and 15 children from two to fifteen years old, tripping over mattresses strewn across the floor and waiting in line at one of the two small bathrooms. There were mounds of dishes to clean, meals to prepare, sunburns to treat and teary eyes to dry. Just getting this crew out of the cabin for an outing was akin to a major military operation. Yes, it sounds like some not so subtle form of torture. It was however as close to heaven as I can come in this world. I was with my children and grandchildren at the family cabin on the lake. We were making memories and rebuilding eternal bonds, but it was worth every exhausted moment, every frustration, every setback.
It takes a lot of work to keep a family together, even more to keep them close. It doesn’t just happen. We need to go out of our way to plan events together, burn vacation time on family gatherings and visiting relatives. And yes, go to that dreaded family reunion. It is especially important to do this for our children. If they don’t get to know their aunts, uncles and cousins when they are young, they never will. For them to get to know their relatives, they have to visit and be with them. For those of us considered ancient by our young grandchildren, it is those very grandchildren we to need spend time with, work on, focus on. Spend the time, do it now.
Latter-Day Saints 