Hello,God,Earth,Knock,Often,li family Hello – God to Earth – Knock Knock

Raising a family can be challenging and stressful at times. However, the common goals and emotional, financial, and physical investments made can be a common bond between husband and wife. One that compliments their marriage relationship.Of A lot of women avoid wearing nice clothes when they getpregnant because they believe that they look fat or ugly. You know that there’snothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman glowing and smiling, so youshouldn’t hide your body during p

Often in my life when I have had bothmy eyes and ears closed, God has had to hit me over the head in order to get myattention.  When He does get through, itis usually an amazing experience and that is what happened this last weekend. I have a whole side of my mother’sfamily that over the years I have lost touch with and there has been sadness inme because of it.   And yet, for whateverreason, I have done nothing about it.  Ihave 3 first cousins who at one time were an important part of my life.  My mother and I would go every other summerto Pennsylvaniaand spend a month or more visiting everyone and spending time at my grandpap’s oldhouse in the middle of the woods surrounded by coal mines long ago closed down.  After my mother and my aunt died, mycousins and I would talk every Christmas Eve –  it was a family tradition started by ourmothers years before - a tradition which for whatever reason just stopped inthe early 90’s and I have not done my part to reach out to my cousins in 16years. Now, I am fast approaching my 60thbirthday, and I have been experiencing for want of a better term – a mid lifecrisis (or perhaps its just menopause run amok).  It has something to do with realizing that Iam closer to the end of my days than the beginning and this realization has hada philosophical effect on me.   I havebeen searching for a way to fill up small holes in my heart and soul by beginningto write again, and making other changes in my life, but still findingsomething missing.  There has been anuneasy feeling in me as if I am being told that something gigantic is going tohappen and I need to prepare for it. For the last month with the attentionof our country focused on the Pennsylvaniaprimary those feelings have only grown stronger.   Seeing and hearing about places I have beento and that were a part of my youth,  opened a flood gate of emotions that I was notsure how to deal with or even what was really causing all this unrest. Then this past week, Pope Benedict cameto the USon what some were calling his Tour of Reconciliation.  After hearing His Holiness speak on the valueof being part of a family, I knew that I had to find every one of the cousinsthat I spent summers with and I needed to do it now. Early Saturday morning, I logged on tothe internet and spent time finding phone numbers.  I only found 2 but after spending two hourson the phone with my cousin Bruce (who was a toddler when I last saw him) I hadmore phone numbers and before I went to bed, I called and talked to most of my family. What is really strange is that they eachtold me that the day before, they had been thinking about me and remembering mymother – see God was working on their side also.  So, after 16 years, I have most of my familyback and there are third cousins and fourth cousins - members of my family Ihave never met nor even knew about. My point in telling this story is to opena dialogue with as many people as possible on how our mobile society hasseparated families by many miles and often years.  The foundation of our society begins in thefamily and that foundation is broken or at the very least cracked.  I believe that before this country can repairour economy or our foreign policy, or any of the major problems facing us, weneed to rebuild the foundation  ournation was built on – the foundation of family and community,  as those were two of the major principles thatour country was founded  on.  It is a time for rebuilding our nation but witha cracked foundation our people and our country can not get back to where itneeds to be.   Until we get back to ourroots and stop our moral compass from spinning uncontrollably – we can neverget our country right with the rest of the world. So, if you haven’t talked or visitedyour families lately – pick up the phone, or write a letter – anything to strengthenthat bond.  Then we can all move forwardtogether to fix the many problems this great land of ours is facing.  Perhaps we can even get back to a place andtime where everyone knows their neighbors, and family time doesn’t revolvearound the television.  All our modernconveniences have made us forget the human touch, like writing a thank younote, sitting out in the backyard in the early evening just talking, saying hito the postman, and the feeling of security that the sense of communitybrings.  We need to relearn how to stopand just listen to the simple sound of silence. Our country has been going down thewrong road for so long now and it is time to take the path less traveled againinstead of continuing to recklessly speed down the super highway that eventuallywill just lead us and our country nowhere. And finally, to my family – I am sovery sorry that I have been so wrapped up in my own life that I forgotten aboutyou.  I hope you can forgive me and Ipromise all of you (you all as we say in Texas) that it will never happen again– for we share a common heritage and we all came from the same  young couple who immigrated to the UnitedStates so many years ago.