Where u at?

My husband’s aunt passed away earlier this year and left a bit of a hole…she was the lady in the family who sent everyone a birthday card, if she knew your birthday I guess.  Every year, until she passed away this summer, we received birthday cards.   

I started thinking about my nieces and nephews.  I love them each so very much and realized that although I know their birthdays, I have no idea of their kids birthdays.  I think my sister-in-law, who owns most of the nieces and nephews and off spring, has a pretty good idea, but, it wasn’t written down anywhere.  I also thought about the time I was trying to get in touch with a particular family member, nothing major or traumatic, but, did not have their phone number anywhere.  Sometimes, I have the wife, hubs has the husband, but, this information, as far as I knew, was not centralized anywhere.  This presented me with a major mission…collecting everyone’s information, including birthdays, making and sharing a record.  It started with a Facebook post, finished with some nagging at Thanksgiving and now, the list is 99% complete, at least for this side of the family. 

It’s an impressive list.  As I finalized it, entering information on lines of the spreadsheet, watching the count grow, I took a minute to appreciate each individual.  Thought about the little kids, their funny moments, their smarts, their sweet, sweet faces and how each voice sounds.  Thought about the oldest of the “grands”, and her brothers…how they have grown, what a wonderful job their parents have done.  Looked forward to upcoming births, weddings, graduations.  There is much activity in a family of this size and relationship.

The list fell together easily, quickly really, and now it is something I sort of treasure..not because of the dates and the numbers but because of each person, big or little, who is bound to me and represented in each line.  I treasure them, and I like having a list I can go down, take a moment for each name, each entry, and express my gratitude for them.  

I don’t promise to be, all of a sudden, that aunt that remembers everyone’s birthday and sends out cards…I know myself well enough to know I can’t keep that up.  But I sure like knowing I can find you if I need you!

As for my side of the family? Watch out, there's some nagging heading your way.