Ode to my Parentals

Or better titled: Trying to make up for Mother's Day and Father's Day

As I was trying to figure out a good take on this tribute, I began feeling completely inadequate. I'm only good at this stuff when I'm having a good creative flow, and tonight, it's just not happening.

I'm super jealous of Rachael and her thoughtfulness and attention to detail. I always feel super lame when she tells me she wrote a poem for my mom, and remembers to buy things like grapes and tilla-moo's for my dad.

And then there's Lisa and her super cool picture taking skills. She always seems to get just the right shots and frames them. My parents love it.

And then there's me. I just show up with rocks with kids' names on them. But, then I remember that these rocks go in the garden, in this yard...



where we love to get together.

And I realized that right now, that's my favorite thing about my family. Being together. I love that my parents created a home where all of us love to be. It's been that way since we were little. Our home was always full of friends and relatives. The door was always open. And it's still that way. We still consider it the gathering place whether its just a few of us, or a lot of us. Whether it's just family, or friends. We all have our own homes, but there's still something about getting together on Rd 56.

We don't gather out of obligation, we gather because we love too. Because we enjoy being together. And our kids love it, too.

We hang out together roasting marshmallows, or playing on the newest addition to 'Landoni Park'. We gather together when relatives or friends come from out of town. We gather for birthdays, and holidays.




I am so grateful for the work and effort it takes my parents to keep our family together. It's grown a lot, there's not just the five of us anymore, now there's 18. It's not always easy. There's a lot of prep work, a lot of clean-up, a lot of groceries, and a lot of mediating. Every family has it's ups and downs and we're definitely no exception. But it's nice to know that sooner or later you'll get a phone call from either K-lando or D-lando trying to smooth out whatever issues are going on. They're both great at listening to both sides and then trying to make every one meet in the middle. They've set a great example for us that no matter what, there's no fight, disagreement, or whatever that's worth ruining our friendships. I love that we're not just siblings and sons and daughters, and in-laws, but we're all friends. Close friends.

In the just the last year, we've been through the births of two new babies, together.
Through the passing of our grandpa, together.
Opening and running a store, all together.
Then there's holidays, and birthdays, spent together.
And lastly, we survived another week spent together at the ocean.



photo courtesy of Lisa Landoni

I'm so very grateful for my parents for creating a family that loves being together. Whether as a whole, or as separate parts. It's a reflection of how we were raised, and how we all want to raise our children. Together.