A Gift Of Family

A family member has begun a tradition for us, one we treasure more each year she does it. It's a calendar. Not only is it practical, with large enough spaces to write appointments and things like recycling reminders in for any given day, but it's a family treasure.

It's not just pictures of the two of them and their kids. It's everybody else in the family and their kids. She selects from not only her extended family, spreading out from Steve's heritage, but coordinates with mine to make it complete. It's pictures of Steve and me with grandkids, extended groups, individual people's photo treasures. Each month is a new selection of photos, a new spectrum of events. They are set in parks and living rooms, day cares, yards, even a sidewalk where Daddy walks his two youngest kids safely to their destination. They cover holidays, birthdays, parties, and just-because. They range from dressed up and posed to candid and goofy.

Each calendar is a treasure of who all of us were the previous year. And yes, we're collecting a stack of them to page through for future years. Not only can we see what each of our two lives were like that year, but peek in on the lives of those we were apart from as they grew each year. And each calendar is a gift of the thoughtfulness and time given to create this priceless archive, this archive of love.

Thank you, Krystal.