Always come home...

What started out as a head ache quickly turned into a sinus infection, that happened to be followed by a cough and wound up becoming bronchitis, which led to four consecutive nights without sleep, a hoarse voice, and has hopefully ended with laryngitis. The cough, well, it still lingers, sounds like a ferocious guard dog and is sure to follow if you make me laugh.

Despite being ill we went home for the weekend. My nephew C.J. is graduating from high school and we had a barbecue to celebrate on Saturday. There was plenty of food and my brother, Clay, was able to borrow a jet ski from a friend. The kids, both big and little, loved it!

Still a little under the weather I found myself more emotional than I had expected. As the day passed I caught myself reminiscing. I could remember when I was graduating from High School. C.J. was just over a year old then. He was so little and so adorable. Where has the time gone? Could he really be old enough to be graduating from high school? This is my favorite picture of my brother and my nephew.


C.J. has always been loving, thoughtful, and polite. I don't think I have ever asked him something where he hasn't responded with a "yes ma'am" or "no ma'am". You can see his desire to make you happy just by looking into his eyes. And his smile, well, it always could melt my heart. C.J. was six years old when Nathan and I were married. This is another favorite picture of mine. It is him at our wedding reception.


Even as the years have passed and C.J. started to get older he is always the one who will initiate a hug, take out the trash, keep an eye on a younger cousin or simply say I love you. It is hard to believe that the little boy who use to love walking around in every ones shoes (yes even the girl's shoes) is becoming a man.

As I laid my head back to rest it on the couch this weekend I was listening to the cousins talk. C.J., Kaylee, and Lindsey have always been close because they are stepping stones, each one just a year a part from the other. Anyway, my heart melted again as I listened to C.J. talk, with excitement, about where he would like to serve his mission. I can't imagine a better missionary who loves as the Savior himself loves. I am so proud of him! Proud of who he is, proud of who he is becoming and proud of the man he will be some day!


Later that evening when the day was drawing to an end I found myself sitting on the front lawn watching C.J. and his friends playing on the jet ski. With my niece Lindsey in my lap, my brother Clay to the right of me and my niece Kaylee sitting in front of me my heart began to fill with emotions. It was full because I know how blessed I am. I recognize how truly unique our family is because not all families can come together, even in celebration, let alone want to be there and invite their friends to be apart of it.

Our family has matured through the years. We've grown individually; we've grown collectively and we enjoy being with one another. Knowing this and recognizing that with the older nieces and nephews becoming adults our family is still evolving. That is when I leaned in and whispered to my Linny Lou, "Don't you hope it will always be like this? Don't you hope we will always come home even when our families begin to grow?" I was delighted when both she and Kaylee declared that "of course we'll always come home because when we have babies we'll bring them home and when C.J. has babies he'll bring them home and then, well by then, the little cousins will be like us and it will just keep happening." She is right, oh so right, the little cousins will follow and my prayer is that we ALL will always come home!