TRADITIONS

The fabulous family and I just returned from a week at the Texas beach.  Our beach trips began a LONG time ago.  We journeyed to the Florida beach and spent a week with our dearest friends The Thompson's for over thirty years.  I have an entire books of stories to tell from those years including the all night evacuation trying to get away from an approaching hurricane.  


Over the years many things about our beach trips changed--the house, the beach, who could come, what we ate...  One thing remained constant--our mutual affection for one another and it being the best week of the year.  We were ---a study of an aging family's dynamics and change was inevitable.  When we are all together there is always some memory of beach trips from the past that comes to the surface.  It was a magical time.


Life is filled with changes---the kids all grew up--they have families of their own and the beach trips ended as the shape of the family became different.  Three years ago #1 Daughter decided to reinstate the beach trip for our clan.  She arranged the dates, made the contacts, and pulled together our first trip to the TX beach.  This year was our third trip as a family to the Texas beach and #1 Daughter has become our official trip planner.  


We do a lot of the same things we have done for the past 40 years.  There is something to be said for traditions.


And new activities are added--sometimes for only a short season.


Many things change over the years, but the tradition of the beach trip lives on.  Camille took the initiative to make sure we continued to gather together and enjoy this time as a family.  It is my favorite week of the year.


The Word speaks of raising a child in the way he should go and they will not depart from it.  I am pretty certain it was not referring to an annual beach trip, but this trip is very indicative of exactly what it speaks.  As we grow our families--the things we do together become an important part of who we are.  We begin laying the foundation of what is important at a very early age and with repetition comes the desire to stay the course.  I never stopped to consider all those years ago that I was planting a seed of the importance of family time.  And yet all these years later, the seed not only took hold but has sprouted into a beautiful family tree.  Sometimes we just have to be obedient and trust--He way is always the best way.

Another year of beautiful family memories made on yet another sandy beach.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

5 comments

  1. What a wonderful happy post, Lulu. Thank you. Yes, family traditions, leading to happy memories, are a good seed to plant in our young ones.

    This post reminded me of our many beach trips in Scotland and down South in Bournemouth and Poole, or in Norfolk. Eating fresh fish and chips (fried potatoes) are a tradition at these trips. I remember once as we were on the beach a flying seagull emptied its load on my wife. She asked me for a paper napkin. I said, "What's the point? The seagull is miles away by now!"

    God bless.

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    1. OH VICTOR! There is NOTHING quite a good as fresh fish! I would assume the water in Scotland, etc is very cold?
      Blessings, My Friend!

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    2. Yes Lulu, in Scotland, Edinburgh, or in Berwick upon Tweed, a Northern English town the water would be quite cold; and I remember in Edinburgh the skies were mostly grey. Down totally South in Bournemouth, or Poole or Boscombe or Sandbanks on a hot summer day one would burn to a frazzle immediately. Sandbanks, I am told, has one of the richest set of properties in the world and is very posh indeed. Dogs there don't deign to bark at strangers but look the other way in disdain.

      God bless.

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  2. What great memories... smiles. Moving day for you is fast approaching, friend. smiles

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    1. Neck deep in the details today! It WILL happen-that's a fact!
      Blessings!

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Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!