What do you get when you pack a whole bunch of cousins into one 2 bedroom condo?

A whole lot of sweaty men all talking about who has the longest beard, who’s the shortest of them all, who’s got the biggest belly of them all, etc etc.  Jonathan and his cousin Isaac are only 2 weeks apart in their birthdays so they have much in common, but they have led very different lives so it is always fun when they get together.  Thankfully this time there were no near drownings, no broken bones, no nose bleeds, no road rash, no stitches, wow now that I think about it, we only had puking and that was totally of his own accord.

So I would say, it was probably the tamest reunion we had yet, hmm sounds like we might need to plan better next year 😉

This year’s reunion had some bad weather roll in while we were trying to get on the river, so that was a chilly experience.  Then we had a car break down, battery died, and unfortunately it was such a tiny battery, they didn’t carry them in stock. But right before the bad weather, we had 2 really hot days and one of our nephews decided he would not drink water unless it was tap water, yes you read that right.  Our bottled water was not good enough for him.  So needless to say he drank nothing because he conveniently forgot to fill up his water bottle from the tap whenever we were back in the unit.  

By the time we got to the river, he had a really bad dehydration headache and everyone was sick of listening to him whine and cry but refuse to do anything about it. So while we were airing up all the floaties, I checked him out, confirmed it was dehydration, and informed him he would have to drink at least 2 water bottles or he couldn’t go on the river with us because he would be a liability.  I explained what would happen if he didn’t drink the water and how we would be taking him to the ER and they would put an IV in his arm to get him the fluids and he would have to be there a minimum of 4 hours for them to make sure he gets enough.  

He finally decided to take the easy way and just drink the water from the bottles, except he once again would not listen to me when I told him to drink it slowly.  He thought he could prove a point and chug it.  All of us kept warning him, but he refused to listen, and of course all that water came right back up.  His sister threw up her hands and yelled, he’s making himself throw up, unbelievable.  We were all turning away trying not to laugh at her accurate assessment, but we knew he needed to deal with those life consequences since he didn’t want to listen.  

We all get to make choices each day, some have good consequences and some have bad.  All of us choosing to make time for our family reunion and showing up was a good choice and now we have another story to add to the pile.  But sometimes we just choose not to do anything and that too is a choice, but often has negative consequences.  

So give yourself the gift of time, look at each day, prioritize what matters most to you, and choose to make it happen.  Plan your next family vacation or getaway, plan your next date night, choose to read to your kids at bedtime, choose to be home in time for dinner with the family, visit grandma and grandpa this month, spend time alone in your garden, work on your project car with your kids or buddies, whatever it is choose to make time for it, because time has a way of just cruising by and before you know it, it is too late.  So don’t be a passenger, be the driver and choose your path each day, you’ll be so much happier!