Remembering

I’ve been thinking a lot about my childhood the past few days.  My sister & I were extremely lucky to be born into a family with two very loving parents and even luckier still to have the love of a large extended family.

I can remember school holidays spent at our Grandmother’s (Malie) property near Goondiwindi.  We’d spend the Christmas holidays with cousins, Aunts, Uncles and the odd ring-in, running, swimming, eating, hiding, building caves, exploring , refusing to have baths, watching cricket, playing cricket, playing footy, riding bikes, having war games in the shearing shed (with sheep dung clods), putting on concerts, pumpkin picking & reading books.

Our cousins were our best friends & our Aunts & Uncles surrogate parents.  At the centre of it all was Malie, the family’s matriarch, who adored & doted on every single one of her 23 grandchildren.  Malie was the best Grandmother a little person could ever have.

This week we lost a very valued & loved member of our family.  His sudden death has had us all (cousins, Aunts, Uncles, parents, daughters, sons) reach out for each other, while reminding us that no matter the distance, love & family is all that matters.

Tonight I read a great post on Good Gracious Me  (https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/30daygratitudechallenge), written by Leo Babauta from Zenhabits.  It sums up all that has been running through my mind this week & has refocused me on making time to be mindful, grateful, aware & loving.  I encourage you to head on over for a read - http://zenhabits.net/iloveyou/

After you’ve read it, go & hug & kiss the ones you love, remembering life can be far too short & we need to live it now, with integrity, respect, generosity & love.