Family

This weekend, I met family I had only heard about through stories from my mom, and my grandfather, and my aunts and uncles.  From the moment I met them...I loved them.  They were my family.  There were similarities in looks...in personalities...in joking...and you would never know we were meeting for the first time.

This weekend, I learned not to take anything for granted.  In all the years I lived in New York, I can never remember getting excited about going to "the falls"...because I took it for granted.  It was so accessible to me (an hour's drive)...it wasn't a big deal.  "Who cares...they're waterfalls...whoop-dee-doo." 

BUT...

One of my favorite moments this weekend (and there were a few) was gathering with my family, familar and new, and trudging through the ice, snow, and sub-zero temperatures to look at those beautiful waterfalls.  It's amazing how truly strong and powerful they are.  Some places were frozen solid, but those waterfalls were unrelenting.  You could see the mist from them as we walked...and at first, I wondered if it was the pollution from the power plants.  But, as we got closer, I could see the lights through the mist and I jumped up and down like a little girl and said "it's the falls" and skipped (and slid) toward the metal railings and iced over binoculars so I could see this landmark that I never gave a second thought.  I felt like I was seeing them for the first time...I guess I was. 

My family is like Niagara Falls.  There for as long as I can remember...strong...powerful...and unfortunately, so accessible, I have taken them for granted.  One thing I have often marveled at is the way my family can still make me feel.  I feel like I'm 7 years old when we're all together...it's not a bad thing.  Some of my favorite memories come from times I've spent with them...as a group...and individually.  And, I have to admit, when I first saw them I felt that little lurch in my heart that made me want to go skipping (or sliding) toward them like they were the lights in the mist of one of the world's most beautiful natural wonders.

Because...to me...they are.