The Fam!…July 2014

July found us back in Colorado, generously hosted in the homes of family and friends. Being with our sons after more than a year apart was sweet, intense. Owen, 24, at right in the photo, works/studies in Texas; John, 22, works in Japan.  We spent hours exchanging ideas, affirming strengths, supporting struggles...all to be continued via the miracle of Skype!

Bill with his sisters Leigh Anne (L) and Millie and their partners…ready to sample Millie's salsas

Early morning walk…time alone in the midst of 80 plus wonderful relatives!

With my beloved siblings (Melissa, far L; Susan, front, 3rd from L; Wendell, far R; Melanie, farthest R)
and Raser first cousins (sadly missing 5 plus 2 deceased)

Mid-July we joined 80 others for a five-day gathering of my mother's family in the Rockies. So after a year of a somewhat isolated existence in Ecuador, we were again in the midst of family, with all the joys and challenges that brings!

Reunion fun…cousins and Dutch Blitz

Families are complex...we share beginnings but make different journeys, developing our unique characteristics, gifts, values.  It's a rare family that can gather in perfect harmony, honoring the diversity among its members.  But what a goal!  Meanwhile we struggle, learn, and reach out to those who experience pain due to what a friend calls the Fam factor...a sometimes noxious mix of assumptions, expectations, rivalries, and critiques.

L to R:  Evy Raser Herr, Bonnie Raser Frey, and my mother Esther Raser Engle
missing are Carol Raser Hensel (CA), Lois Raser (KS), and deceased:
Amanda Raser Roston and John Raser…all children of Rudy & Myra Nissly Raser

Part of traveling light for me involves releasing family ways of being that do not edify while embracing the many, many good things I've received from my family.  A cousin and I began talking during the reunion about the family tendency to quick judgment and criticism of others.  She shared that her mother declared one day (my cousin was in her teen years): "We've been critical of others, but we're not going to do that anymore." That kind of self-awareness is a start down a different path.  Here's to the journey!

Journal entry:  July 31, 2014

Leaving Colorado after a month's visit with extended family and friends...those who journeyed with us for the two decades we lived in Colorado, I find truths in the view from the airplane window:

A river meanders across the plain...like our lives...moving in one direction, and then another, learning often through hardship and pain, but flowing ever onward.

As the airplane ascends, sunlight and blue sky pierce grey clouds, and I ponder how the joys of learning, growth, and deep communion with others are like the sun that is always there, ready to give us light and warmth as we pass through dark times in our lives.