Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Reflecting on family

I feel so blessed to be here in Israel on vacation. It is an opportunity to relax, recharge my spiritual batteries and to reconnect with family. The family part is very important aspect to this trip.
I am enjoying the normalcy of spending time with them and seeing them everyday. Of meeting my parents for coffee this morning, having a playdate with my brother and his kids in a park, dropping my kids off at my sister's house because the babysitter canceled and I had to be somewhere. Everyone is a short walk or car ride away. It's just so...normal. And it highlights for me how atypical it is to be living so far from family the rest of the year.
I have been living away from family since I was 15. Most of the time I am so used to being on my own that I don't even realize what I am missing. Until we come here and I get a taste of typical family life.
During the year it is hard to be in touch. There is a 7 hour time difference and we all have busy lives. The weekly phone call does not always happen. There is so much to catch up on and there is really no way to cram a year's worth of closeness into 4 weeks. I feel that there are big aspects of my siblings' lives that I am not part of, and vast parts of mine that they don't know. It makes me sad. I guess that is to be expected, though, when you have a large family that is living in different countries and continents.
The goal then is to enjoy the time while it lasts, to use the opportunities to reconnect, for the cousins to play together and get to know each other. And not worry just yet about saying goodbye. I'll have plenty of time to miss them when I am back in NY.

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