How important is family to you? Sometimes I feel like we take our family for granted. They will always be there for us, no matter what. We are dealing with the very real fragility of our family unit and customs at this time.

My family usually spends each Sunday together: eating, talking, singing, laughing, fighting or whatever we decide to get into. This past Sunday, I really missed this gathering. My mother fell last week, fracturing her ankle and her leg. So the family came together to make sure she was taken to the hospital and my father, who is paralyzed on the left side and confined to a wheelchair, was cared for. This meant carefully juggling everyone’s schedules. And for our family, that is quite a few schedules.

Yep, that’s me doing the photobomb! This was at one of our Sunday family gatherings.

My parents had three children: myself, my sister Kym, and my brother Kip. Now that’s not too bad as a family unit goes. Then you start to add the grandchildren. My sister has one son and my brother has three children. Still not too bad, until you get to me. Insert evil grin here! I have seven children. Yup, seven. So between children, spouses, significant others, outside obligations and such, it can be a chore to make sure two people are available at all times. But so far, we have managed it quite well. And by the time this is over, I’m sure we will be experts at it. My mother has to be non-weight bearing on that leg for at least six weeks and it could be as long as three months.

Here is part of the family. This one was taken last Christmas. Just to give an idea of how many people we’re talking about.

But that is not the worst part of it all. It’s the closeness and companionship that we cultivate on those Sundays that we will miss the most. I’m sure we’ll squeeze a few in as she recuperates. But as for now, her living area is kind of small and with the addition of a second wheel chair, a couple of clumsy children, four dogs, a cat and the rest of us, it is a very tight squeeze. And on those Sundays, Momma loves to cook for us. So to keep her off her feet, we will be postponing these gatherings or be bringing food when we converge on her.

Sometimes friends like to come over and join in the insanity!

Until she is able, I think each and every one of us will be missing the music, food, laughter and love that we experience with our family on that special day of the week.