We are family

I felt sorry for myself because all of my siblings were together last weekend except me.

Tabor and Katie took their three sweet girls to Nevada for the baby blessing of little Charlotte who I have yet to meet.  (I think it should be illegal to have nieces in the world that you haven't met.)

On Sunday afternoon, Enoch fired up his ipad and we gathered around my laptop, propped on the TV.  We skyped with them all. (Except Ammon and Melanee had already left for home.  Rats.)

My cell phone was nearby because I was texting with Enoch beforehand to get it all set up.

I felt less sorry for myself when I considered the blessing of all that technology helping us connect.

I could hear the raucous cacophony that is my family.  I could hear the happy sounds of a whole lot of children.  I could see Tabor asleep on the couch.

"Wake him up!" I said.  (This was rather cowardly of me, I admit.  It's easy enough to say "wake him up" when I'm several states away.  There have been times that Tabor was...a little...cranky...when woken up.)

He was very cheerful though.  He showed off little Charlotte for the camera (shown above).  He sat stoically while Luke, in full pirate costume, waved a toy sword in his face.  (You have to be brave around all those little pirates.)

It broke my heart a little not to be there.

Now, since we are a family that recycles names, concentrate on this story so you don't get confused: 

Olivia (my sister) told me that Olivia (my niece) said, "My bear wondered why we have the same name."

Olivia (my sister) said, "What did you tell your bear?"

Olivia (my niece) said, "I didn't really know."

(How cute is that little Olivia?)

Olivia (my sister) told her about Olivia (our aunt) and Olivia (our great-grandma) and how it was a good name and how all the Olivias had to do their best to live up to the name.

(I love every last one of those Olivias.)

So I don't know what the point of all this is.  I love my family.  I miss them.  I'm glad they're mine.  I'm glad that even though I see them a lot less than I would like, we are linked together.  We are bound by covenants and love and pale skin that burns/freckles.  We are bound by the same silly years-long running jokes, by nicknames no one really remembers the source of.  We are bound by wondrous technology.  Marianne emailed me an essay Liberty wrote for school.  Liberty who is likely the sweetest person in all the world, wrote about how much she loves her aunts.  She wrote she reads my blog every day.

I'm grateful I have a way to connect with my dear niece.

(I wish I had more worthwhile things to write in my blog since I know people of her caliber are reading.)