Memories | Page 7 of 7

Together As A Family

March 7th, 2021
Mollie T. Cox

Five of our family flew to Colorado Springs for my youngest son’s ordination as a pastor. That event was special enough, yet, the weekend was full of additional adventures.

Exploring Garden of the Gods, an awe-inspiring collection of rock formations.

Visiting the Air Force Academy, especially its architecturally beautiful chapel.

Driving through North Cheyenne Cannon—tight tunnels and a winding road so narrow that one car must stop or pull to the edge when encountering another car.

And much more: Watching the Preakness on the largest TV I had ever turned on—my mother-in-law’s favorite horse won; Catching snippets of Prince Harry’s wedding on the same incredible TV; Celebrating my mother-in-law’s 81^st birthday.

On the drive home from the airport, I asked the son who had traveled with us to name his favorite event. His answer? “Just being together as a family.”

It was a good reminder that while special activities can be valuable, just being together as a family is more so.

What is your favorite “Just being together as a family time?”

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1a ESV

Holidays, Memories

Year End Review

December 27th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

Along the way, I learned the importance of organizing and reviewing family photographs on a regular basis. Photographic records of family history are precious for too many reasons to list here.

Three years ago, we spent New Year’s Day putting the finishing touches on our boys’ photo albums. They now have a visual record from birth through the beginning of college.

As we looked at photographs of events we had forgotten, I wished we had reviewed them on a regular basis. We could have savored the memories. Perhaps we would have implanted them more deeply by discussing the photographs.

I don’t remember going there are sad words to hear when a family vacation trip was important to you.

Organizing photographs on New Year’s Day would have kept the album work manageable. It would have also given us a family activity on a day that was usually quiet and unscheduled.

News Year’s Day is a time to look forward. It also can be the best time to look back in a practical way, one which will yield fruit for many years.

I implore you to spend time looking at and discussing your photographs with your spouse and children.

Christmas, Memories

Christmas Memories

December 13th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

The best Christmas memories frequently originated from easy, spontaneous activities. And free. My youngest son fondly remembers using wrapped presents under the Christmas tree as roads and hills for his matchbox cars. I don’t remember how that activity started, but it continued over several years, even when the boys were so old it was the only time their cars were taken out of their buckets.

Once, I decided to have a picnic lunch under the Christmas tree. The kids were elementary age, and it was fun. I didn’t make it a yearly event. I wish I had because that special memory belongs only to me.

Another favorite tradition was sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Until the boys were teenagers, the entire family slept on the floor. The boys slept in sleeping bags. My husband and I slept on camping mattresses. My husband eventually opted for his own bed, and as a loyal wife I followed. By the college years, only the middle son carried on the tradition. I hope this tradition is re-instated if we have grandchildren.

Any easy, memory-making activities in your home?

Memories, Parenting

Their Memories, Not Yours

September 6th, 2020
Mollie T. Cox

I thought having my hair cut by my favorite stylist was the reason for the salon visit. However, it was her words that were more important that day.

I want my memories, not my aunt’s.

Shirley was explaining why she was discarding figurines, furniture, and even fine china that had been dear to her mother’s unmarried sister. “My limited space is reserved for my memories,” she said.

The same is true for our children. They don’t want our memories.

“We have to keep Hoppers,” one adult son insisted when I was decluttering. Hoppers was a 1980s skinny, stuffed, lavender bunny whose long legs had been re-sewn twice. “Get rid of that instead,” he suggested and pointed to a large Gund Classic Winnie-the-Pooh that my cousin recently had given me.

Give up a new, specialty, stuffed animal for a stitched-up, generic one? Yes, because the former held no memories for my son.

Pristine Pooh had not been tossed off the top bunk in diving competitions with Roughy Tough and Blue Bear. Pooh had not held an elected office in my children’s stuffed animal society. Zero memories. Zero worth.

Hoppers and Hoppers. Both had the same name.

Which possessions hold special memories?