They don’t even know.

 

As parents we plan  things for our kids.

For the last few months we have been saving $20 a week to bring the kids to Disney/Orlando for 2 of their birthdays.

We usually have a big party and invite all our friends…but THIS YEAR…we decided that as the kids got older…

we want to absorb them.

we want to soak up the moment we have with them.

we want them to ourselves.

we have come to realize that we ARE each other.

Not like, “We ARE each other” in a weird new-age hippy sort of way.   But, “We are each other” in the way that as they get older and mature…they are unfolding.

Their personalities are saturated with the traits that we have nurtured.

So…when we make a trip together or take a “mini-vacation” it is a sort of team building exercise …of sorts.

It teaches us to work together.

It teaches US that we are a unit.

The total SUM of US is larger than the individual parts.

And the SUM is amazing.

But…sometimes it only becomes evident when we step outside of our normal.

THEN…

It becomes an exercise in LOVING each other, an exercise in appreciating WHO WE ARE.

It gives the kids an opportunity to nurture those relationships that as brothers and sisters can become STRAINED by  everyday  life.

We do it because we know that life is fleeting.  Time is limited and everything but memories FADE.

We do it because these memories are the ones that will embed themselves in their minds.

They will DEFINITELY remember the bubble beards they made with their brothers and sisters at the pool in Orlando.

Or… building a kick-ass Lego car with your brother and racing it against all the other kids at the Logo-store at Downtown Disney.

They might never recall the days that they helped each other with chores, but they will definitely remember sharing a smoothie with ALL their brothers and sisters when it was 1000 degrees outside.

And sometimes even a brother and sister who have been arguing about everything….learn that in life they really do appreciate each other.

It’s funny to me that we do all these things so that they realize something they already knew…

They ARE each others best friends.

They are the ones that they can count on when EVERYONE ELSE fails them.

They ARE parts of each other.

And they don’t even know it.

Yet.