The Crown Prince.

The older I get it seems the more important family is to me. I'm not sure if it's that way for everyone else or not.

I just returned from another trip to Michigan. I went to the same place that I was at 3 weeks ago on my snowmobile trip but I didn't bring any snowmobiles this time. The point of this trip was to visit family members I haven't seen in over 5 years.

I probably over embellish my role in the family, but it is a role that I've noticed myself taking more seriously ever since I moved back home. I'm the #1 son, the #1 nephew, and the #1 grandchild. That's not to say that I'm everyones favorite, just that I was the first on both my mother and father's side of the family. What does that mean? Probably not much, but I guess something I've thought about is that I'm only a few funerals away from becoming the old guy in the family.

On this particular trip the people I visited with are older. Grandparents, great uncles and aunts, etc. Their time left on this planet, in my family, is relatively short. They might be around for another 20 minutes or another 20 years, but I doubt much more than 20 years and some even less. It meant even more to me this time around because I haven't seen most of them in such a long time and a lot of my "visiting" was nothing more than sitting with them after we were finished catching up... because there probably won't be many more chances just to sit and listen to the old stories or just the all around pleasure of being in their company. That doesn't freak me out. Part of life is dying, and I realize that.

Overall it was a great trip. I didn't lose anything or have anything stolen this time, so in that regard it was a success! It was great catching up with the family and I intend to go back again sometime soon, and then again when I have my kids here for the summer.

I came home Friday morning in a nice snowfall so that I could be home in time for a family gathering on my mom's side. Ever since my grandfather died, that side of the family doesn't gather as much as it used to. The only time they really get together now is the weekend after Christmas for a party, so I wanted to make sure that I was there. I've seen all of them since I moved back home, but not a single gathering other than my mom's wedding, and I was too drunk to really catch up on the old times with them.

I guess the point of all of this babble is that I used to not put much thought into family affairs, but it's more important to me these days, and that's not such a bad thing.