Family Visit

I just returned from dropping my parents and grandmother off at the airport here at DFW. They have been visiting us here for the last week. I'm sure that as I drove off, they sighed a breath of relief. Just as their anticipation increased as the time to arrive came closer, I'm certain that they were more than ready to get back on the plane to head home to the familiarities of Medford. One full week of experiencing the organized chaos that we live day in and day out was 6 days too many for them, I'm sure.

It's funny to look back on the week. There are so many simularities when it comes to family driving family nuts. As my grandmother came so very close to driving my mother past the line of sanity, I found myself approaching that same line a few times during the last week. It must be due to the fact that we know our family so well and can almost anticipate their next move. We know all of their habits, their verbal phrases, their demeanor...everything. In my experience, after day 3 of a visit, those very things can become like Chinese water torture if you let them.

Not so when friends visit. I guess we let more things slide with those that we are not as close to. But family.....why is it that we long so much to be with them when they are away and then want to scream at the top of our lungs when they do the very things that make them who they are? I was certain that my mother was going to lunge at my grandmother during a particular episode this last week. Yet I also know that my mother would go to the ends of the earth for her. We are a funny people, indeed.

I guess the bottom line is that no matter how many times our family drives us batty, we are always able to disregard their minor offense and see in them the best of who they are. They are, after all, our blood....the only ones we have. They give us life and breath and recharge us even when it seems as though they are wearing us down.

I wouldn't trade this last week with my family for anything. I already miss them and look forward to the summer when we can all drive each other nuts again.