Marvelous May!

I'm looking forward to the marvelous month of May.  The marvelous part comes from my excitement over upcoming visits with friends and family, throughout the month.

Early in the month, I will attend a dear friend's wedding. I'm looking forward to the happy occasion and finally meeting his soul mate. While I am there, I'm going to get together with several other close friends of mine that I've been missing.  I'm also organizing a few, mini reunions with wonderful, old friends I've reconnected with recently... and haven't seen in forever.

After that, I will hop a few states over to visit with my mother, grandmother and many other family members. I'm looking forward to spending quality time with each of them... and partaking in lots of delicious home cooking.

Then I will head back to Cali to meet up with another relative who will be visiting from out of state. It should be a fun time welcoming them to my town.

My summer vacation is starting a little early this year. It will be a busy month of May but I am looking forward to all of it.

My joy moment today occurred when I began making arrangements to visit with special family and friends.

Now if I can just find a good airline ticket!

Details, details...  LOL.

Stay tuned :-)

Facbook Connection

Today, two relatives that I haven't heard from in ages found me on Facebook. 

I was so happy to see to their faces and connect with them.  I'm not trying to promote the popular social networking site (they're doing very well on their own), but I will say that I've had many amazing reunions with their help.

I've been in touch with several good friends from high school and college that I'd lost touch with... I even heard from a few grade school buddies that found me!  Let's "face" it (pardon) it probably wouldn't have happened through the phone book. The site has made it fun and easy to rediscover old friends and family from years past.  As a result, I've had many great trips down memory lane.

It also helps me to stay better connected with my friends and relatives that I'm not able to see all the time or who live far away. 

I think of Facebook as a daily newspaper for each of my friends and relatives lives.  Their status updates provide little nuggets of what's happening in their world, keeping us connected and current in a whole new modern way. 

I'm looking forward to catching up with my long lost relatives, finding out what's new... and hopefully, getting some face time very soon. 

My joy moment today came after receiving two Facebook friend requests from long lost family members.   Such a nice surprise.

Technology rocks! 

Stay tuned :-) 

Hyped over Skype

Today I had conversations with my mom and brother for the first time using the video software program, Skype.  What a treat!

I don't know what was funnier, all of us trying to figure out how to get connected or our excitement over finally seeing one another.

It was great to be able to see each of them as we talked. Looking at their faces and expressions made it much more intimate and enhanced our communication experience tenfold.

During my video chat with my brother I was able to meet and see his new girlfriend.  In my next call with my mother, she was able to give me a tour of a room she'd recently redecorated.  It was almost like we were right there with each other... so much so, my mother even started critiquing my hair! LOL.

I love Skype and foresee it becoming a regular feature during phone calls with my family.

Although, I may need a hair and makeup person for my close-ups with my mom. LOL.

Stay tuned :-)

Reaching Out... Gotta do it!

Today I decided to reach out to some of my family members.  My relationships with some of them is one of the many stressors that precipitated my joy journey.  I'm thankful that we're not totally estranged but we don't speak to one another nearly as often as we should... or could.  

Sometimes family relations just aren't the way they should be.   "Can't we all just get along?'   Guess not.

Many of my family members I speak with often and we have a good relationship, but a few others are strained.  It truly saddens me that some of us rarely speak to one another, due to old wounds and hurts on both ends.   I single no one person out because we are all to blame for the state we're in.

One of the things I hope for this year is to make my relationships with all of my loved ones better and closer.   I thought a good way to begin would be to reach out and make contact.  A good way, but scary and stressful, too!   But I knew I had to do it.  We're family.   The alternative stinks.

So, I reached out to seven of my loved ones today. Five of the contacts were through email, Facebook, and text ( No, I'm not a scaredy-cat!  Ok, maybe a little).

I sent out five quick notes to say, "hello" and to let them know I was thinking about them. Short, sweet and personalized messages for each person.

The other two contacts were made by phone.  Those conversations were fun, light and lengthy. Yes!

Afterwards, I exhaled deeply, at ease after all was said and done.  I felt hopeful.  Joy was brimming.

My hope is that they each know that they are thought about often and loved much.   My hope is that we can all heal and begin anew.

It's a start. We'll see what happens.

Stay tuned :-)