Retail Therapy

I say it's retail therapy, but its more like family therapy. Every year at about this time, the women of the Gehrig family, get together, for a weekend of shopping, drinking, laughing, praying, eating, etc., etc. This year however we add crying to that list. It's never easy to lose someone you love, and its even harder to do it alone, so I am very grateful that this family shopping trip is happening when it is, so we can grieve together and comfort each other, the way families, especially mine, do.

Its a tradition that has been going on for 30-ish years and for me and Lindsey it will be, I THINK, the 10th year..wow. That seems insane. Its amazing to me. People will tell me, not a lot, but often enough that I take notice, that its weird how close my extended family is, how odd it is that I have such a close relationship with my cousins. I think its weird that other people don't. These people share my blood, my loved ones...how can you not be close to people who share the same love for the patriarch/matriarch of your family?

I thank God every day for blessing me with THIS family, or rather, THESE families. My dad's, my mom's, my stepdad's, Brad's... I am SOO blessed to be apart of such caring, giving, loving families and I'll never take it for granted.