I was fortunate enough to grow up in an area where my entire family (even the extended ones!) live 30 minutes away or less. I can still drive by the houses where my parents grew up. We can spend time visiting with OG's "Greats" (GGH and G3) whenever we want. We can even visit my mother's parents at their final resting place. It's something I, admittedly, have taken for granted over the years. My family is always here.
I have come to appreciate this geographical closeness more since meeting my husband. Half of his extended family lives across the country and the other half are still living in El Salvador. The only "local" family are his parents and brother (and sis-in-law!) - all whom we see on a regular basis. I was lucky enough to meet a small handful of his extended family at our wedding - three wonderful ladies who immediately made me feel like part of the family. I was again blessed (and nervous!) to meet more of the extended family when we traveled to CA for his cousin's wedding. Like his aunt and cousins at our wedding, everyone welcomed me with open arms. Even though we hadn't met before, we were family.
We keep in touch - we celebrate each other's happiness' and lend our ears/hearts when something isn't going well. It's strange to me that OG has yet to meet an entire piece of her family, but they will each have a place in her heart no matter how far away. Her dada and I will make sure! And we look forward to the day when they will finally meet.
So, short story long (sorry!)...OG received a special gift in the mail yesterday from her CA Family (thanks Aunt Patty, Uncle Ken, and Tia Paca)! Since OG may not be able to remember these early life moments, I wanted to make sure we documented them for her...and to share with our familia en la costa oeste.
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| OG thought the box was her gift, so this was taken as I explained there were things inside the box. |
We also captured the moment she opened her gift:
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| Showing Minnie to Grandma & Grandpa |
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| Holding Minnie's hand. |
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| I think it's safe to say she LOVES her new Minnie! (And hair bows, but not as much as Minnie) |
It makes me sad knowing that OG won't experience growing up near this big group of amazing people. However, just because we aren't within 30 minutes of each other doesn't mean we're not family. Now I just need to meet all of the family in El Salvador!
Side note: I have constantly bugged my husband about taking me to El Salvador, and his response is always a quirky story about how his favorite hat was literally stolen from his head the last time he visited. I bug him about going to El Salvador almost as much as I bug him about teaching me Spanish...and I assure him I just won't wear a nice hat. ;)
However, all kidding aside, things are increasingly getting worse with the gangs in San Salvador so please continue to send positive thoughts and good vibes to our family and the innocent citizens of El Salvador.
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