Quality Time

I had a great Memorial Day weekend. My one brother managed to come home from Ireland for the weekend, and another brother came with his wife and kids for the weekend. Only one sibling was missing, visiting with his in-laws. So we all spent lots of great time together Thursday-Monday. I can't remember the last time so many of us so thoroughly enjoyed each others' company. Everyone got along really well, playing assorted games together and chatting, enjoying good food. We even had Gram and Papa there for the day on Saturday. Plus, the weather was perfect. It was good. And I was able to enjoy the moment without getting depressed about similar times I will miss in the future (which has happened at other gatherings over the last several months). I just enjoyed it.

What a contrast to the amount of time I've had with my fiance of late. We chatted online for about 1 1/2 hours last Thursday, and another 1 1/2 hours Monday. And mind you, chatting by IM means typing everything you say, which means each of those consisted of the equivalent of maybe 45-60 minutes of real conversation. We had a couple of business items to attend to, such as preparing for the upcoming visa appointment, which further decreases the 'quality time'. There were a couple of pretty deep issues that came up, and it left me feeling frustrated that our conversations around these issues had to be so short and shallow. I thoroughly appreciate the technology we have to stay in touch, but there are definitely times that it just doesn't cut it.

It's too bad that increasing my quality time with FB means decreasing the family time to almost nill. For those who've known me a while, would you have ever guessed I'd purposefully move so far from home? My one consolation is that his family is similar to mine in many ways, and also enjoys spending time together, so at least I'll have a substitute for what I'll be missing. I'm sure at times that will simply rub in the pain of missing my family, but I know it will also help.