Cherished Memories..

.....as I've been going through pictures lately, it makes me think back to all those who have passed before us. Those who will be there with us in spirit at the reunion, but would love to be there in person. They are the reason we are all coming together, to reunite our family- and share in the love with one another and create new memories to be passed on from generation to generation. One day my Generations' children will be sitting around talking about how we all had this reunion way back many years ago and they wonder what some of our family members were like. And they will never know except to relive in our memories through the pictures that we have left behind. I can't think of a better time to begin creating new memories then at 26 years old. To many that doesn't seem "old" but I am definitely not getting younger and feel that making new memories is something that needs to happen. It was such a nice feeling when I found out that I have cousins from my generation, my same age, most that I've never met. I made it to 26 years old with never having met these people, yet we're family. I know families grow older, they move away from home, they go their separate ways. But we have to remember that it shouldn't always take time like these to bring a family close together. We shouldn't have to live life by only getting everyone together for a wedding or a funeral. We shouldn't have to wait to pick up the phone and call one another until there is a big event someone has planned and is requesting our presence at it.

....My family always says that I am the one who is going to follow in my Great Aunt Onnie's footsteps and be the glue who holds this family together. Surely I cannot do such a job on my own, but family is SO important, and we have such a huge family. As Jared told me earlier "We're kinda a big deal." We are.. we totally are.. we ARE a big deal, a big huge Serbian Family who has waited years and decades to come together and enjoy each others company. To me this is rather sad. Sad to know that there hasn't been a family reunion since the 70s, my dad was just a preschooler back then my Gram said when they had the last one... to know we have waited this long to bring us all together, is rather sad. My goal, infact my mission, is to not just walk out of that reunion and go back to my normal every day life, forgetting those cherished memories we've all made.. but to pick them up and carry them with me so that we all can continue to create new memories down the road. We dont need a yearly reunion to make this happen... I started making it happen just by planning a Saturday night with some "new" cousins to head out for drinks, so we can mingle and catch up on the years of our lives that we've missed out on oppourtunities to get to know one another sooner. I plan on making that a plan to see them when I am "home" in Pittsburgh and we are all available and free to see one another.

Let this be your mission too.. pick up the phone and call someone, make a lunch date, or just a simple call to see how they are doing.. it would probably bring a huge smile to their face. Lets create memories together that the future generations will live through with a smile when they look back on our pictures one day.

- Alyssa