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The Best Things In Life Aren't Free. They're Priceless.

"Hello!! We have things!!" 

These were the first words my mom spoke to the extended family we hadn't seen in half a decade when we stepped through the front door of the Air B&B this past summer holding a case of local beer and a bag of board games. 

"So do we!!" My aunt said, smiling ear to ear and so enthusiastically that I swear everything stopped in that moment - in the best way. It was one of the simplest, silliest exchanges I'd ever heard and I loved it so much that I've thought about it every day since.

I think there are a lot of great feelings in this world, but seeing family after far too long will forever be my favorite. 

The living room was packed. We were shoulder to shoulder almost, reaching between each other to grab appetizers and between our turns taking part in multiple conversations. It was loud. It was SO. LOUD. And I'm not someone who enjoys tons of noise, but that is the best sound. Laughing, meeting new members of the family, (husbands, wives, babies), sharing stories, all of the different things being talked about at once, the excitement in everyone's breath, when everyone is tired from traveling but still wants to stay up late just being a part of the moment... that is something I will never get tired of. 

I didn't realize how much I had missed them until we were all there together. We were there for a wedding which made it that much better, but I would've made that trip just to spend a regular Wednesday afternoon with all of them, too. 

Whoever captured this photo... thank you a million times. The dances, the hugging, the drinks in hands, the twinkle lights, that loud peace feeling. The best. 

It had been 15 years since I'd seen four of these people. Because of a distance, college, and a global pandemic I had never met nine of them. 

And two of those nine are a couple of the best dancers I've ever gotten to play ring around the rosie with. EVER. 

The sentence, "We CAN'T wait this long to do this again," was said probably 300 times in the three days we were there and I don't think I've ever believed something more. 

We really can't. Or at the very least, absolutely shouldn't.

While we were packing up for the ten hour drive back home and putting the board games back in the trunk of the car, I pointed out to my mom that we hadn't played any of them. 

"Why'd we even bring them?" I asked. "If we didn't use them?"

She shrugged, smiled and said, "We didn't need them."

She was right. We didn't. We didn't need them. We were together and that was the only thing that mattered. That was what kept us up late, laughing, and that was what got us up early enough for family breakfast on wedding day, and that was everything.

Was/Is/Forever will be. 

xxx

this was a tough piece for me to write partly because I miss these moments a lot but also because in the past few years, my perspective on the idea of family has shifted so much. i hope you have people around you and hundreds of miles apart from you that make you forget to play the games you brought. i hope you can walk through the front door of a house you've never been to before and instantly feel at home because your people are there with you. i hope you know that family is not limited by blood and i hope you embrace that. the best things in life aren't free, but they're priceless. 

hug them when you can, love them always. 
thank you for reading. be good. 







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