As Danita’s uncle once pointed out; “Families are like fish. After 3 days they start to go off.”
I’ve been spending a lot of time with family lately and I’m finding this is not just me – there seems to be a universal focus on families at the moment – more on that below.
As you know I’ve been in Perth for the last month helping my parents after they both had hip operations. I returned to Sydney last Sunday and this weekend have had my daughter, her husband and 7 month old baby stay with us.
Now, don’t get me wrong … it was great to spend time with my mother (sadly my father didn’t seem to recognise me – he reacts very badly to general anaesthetic) and it’s been amazing to have my daughter and grandson visiting (the son-in-law wasn’t too bad either).
However, there comes a point where you need your own time and space.
House-sitting has proven to be a blessing right now. Danita & I had made a commitment to friends to look after their house and animals (2 dogs and a cat) while they’re away for a month. (You may remember these people. When we first house-sat for them there were 2 cats and 1 dog – with one of the cats ending up in the freezer.)
At the same time we’re house-sitting another place which, thankfully, has no animals (but we do have to look after the African Violets).
This has worked out very well, as we had my daughter and her family in one house while we were in the other one. It’s amazing how much better different generations get on when they’re not actually sharing the same space.
So, once again, house-sitting has proven to be an excellent lifestyle choice for us at the moment.
Returning to my point about a universal focus on family…
This week I went to a meeting of The Style Network Group. They have a wonderful group of people and their meetings are an opportunity to be very real in how you present yourself to others. As you do, I was chatting with one of the other attendees before the meeting stated and we discussed what was going on. He told me his brother had just be diagnosed with terminal cancer. This is a relatively young man (in his 40’s) with a couple of young children. Not only was it a family issue but he was also the salesman for the business owned by the gentleman I was talking to.
Another family issue is David Solomon. Have a look at this week’s Cosmic Compass post. David wrote a wonderful piece called “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” which I’ve shared in the blog. (It’s talking about some vital points regarding having a purpose driven business.) One of the things he mentioned was that his sister had just had an accident and was in a coma.
As well as these dramatic (and sad) examples, a number of people I’ve spoken with lately have been talking about family issues.
My take on this is that in this Year of The Snake one thing that’s happening is that, like a snake, we’re being forced to shed our old skin. This is how we see ourselves, what our values are etc. Part of that is having our values tested by being put into situations where we have to make a significant decision – for me it was taking a month out to be in Perth, for someone else it’s how to keep a business going when a family member, who’s vital to that business, can no longer participate.
What’s happening in your family?