My Social Media-less Life

Today we had a family dinner. We try to have one about every month or so. I love when we have them on Sundays because Sundays were always the “family day” growing up. We would go to church in the morning and then the rest of the day was usually spent with just the four of us. It wasn’t a “hard” rule, it just worked out that way.

So when we started having family dinners on Sundays after my mom moved to Kansas City (for a time it was almost every Sunday), it felt right. And we would spend nearly the rest of the day together.

The reason today was slightly different is because my mom pointed out her HOA has a park nearby that I didn’t even know existed. Naturally the kids got excited to see what it looked like and while it wasn’t much, we always make the best of things. Worst case, we leave. With 5 of us however, we definitely just make the best of it.

The park has a set of swings and a couple of climbing things, but the swings were the biggest hit. And of course, there are less of them than there are us. So we got to share… and then we made fun games out of the people we had.

One of the things the kids have loved about playing on a swing set with Auntie is that Auntie loves swings because her parents both loved swings… but Papa made them even more fun.

I have taken on some of the things my dad used to do that made swings more exciting. I did add a few of my own fun things and the kids still laugh (even Gabriel, who now also rolls his eyes while laughing), but one of the things my dad used to do that I now do is I give them a “super boost” to make them go higher.

I laugh to myself thinking about our yearly family reunions where my dad and uncles would have to push us kids on a swing set as high as they could and then of course it was up to us to keep it going. That is what I now call a “super boost.”

Because it’s 2025 and it’s more fun to “game-ify” things. 😛

The one difference between my cousins and me and my nephews and niece is that they like the super boost a lot and will intentionally slow down so I HAVE to push them. Naturally I don’t mind all that much… until I start to get tired that is.

Every time I super boosted them today, I thought of my dad. I remember the feeling of going what I felt was so high and how long it would take to slow down so I could safely jump off. The way the kids laughed today every time I super boosted them was so heartwarming and nostalgic.

Stuff like that makes it all worth it.

This coming Saturday, June 14, it will be 10 years since my dad took his life, but his memory still lives on in the things we do and say. Gabriel has even started saying things that his father says that originated from our father.

I even had a friend recently remind me of how Papa used to reverse words and say them for fun. Like “snoitalutargnoc“… better know as “congratulations.” I had nearly forgotten about that when the friend brought it up. And now it’s been in my head for the past couple weeks.

If you’ve lost a loved one and you’re reading this, you can keep their memory alive by thinking of those good times and laughing about them. That really is the best way. Second to that is writing those memories down somewhere (like this post 😀 ) and sharing those with people. You’d be surprised the things others remember of your lost loved one.

I am always surprised at the things my friends remember about my dad. But they always make me smile.