When family means more than anything else...

When a person is raised as I was wherein family means more than anything else, they are truly blessed.  When I was a child, I was fortunate to be raised not only by/with my immediate family, but by/with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and assorted other family members who sometimes were not related by blood but were part of my family nonetheless.  Now that I am grown and have a family of my own, the lessons learned as a young girl have made my family so very close.  This is a bit of a double edged sword!  In today's economy we do what we must to keep our families moving forward.  Sometimes this means I am in Las Vegas or on the road and 'my men' (Hubby and Son) are in Denver and I miss them like crazy!  It's something we have all grown used to but still intensely dislike!  However, in order to provide what we need and what we want to give to our son we both work.  I think most families these days are in this situation which makes it a bit easier.  Moreover, it teaches our son by example that we must work and be contributing members to society.  We also work into our family life my busy appearance schedule.  The fun part of that is that they make a lot of my appearances with me when it is appropriate for them to do so.  Once again, this gives us the blessing of being able to teach Aidan by example to be philanthropic and he loves it!  In addition to Edward and I being able to lead by deed, I guess the good news is that if I am fortunate enough to be crowned Mrs. International, 'my men' and I are already used to me being on the road!  Remember, it truly isn't about the amount of time we get with those we love, it's about the quality of that time!  God Bless!