The Value of Connecting & Building Traditions
Life can be pretty busy and it can be hard for families to stay connected. Between work, school, sports, volunteering and everything else that goes on in our lives it can be difficult to find the time to simply be in touch with one another. A few years ago, we started a new tradition of holding a weekly family dinner at our house. The idea was that once per week we would try to have as much of our family as possible come together to share a meal and connect face to face. For my parents, who are both in their late 70’s, this was a way for them to see their grandkids on a weekly basis. For Bob’s daughters, now both grown adults, it was a way to for them to stay connected with their younger siblings. For Bob and I, it was a way to reinforce the value that can come from the family being together on a regular and ongoing basis. Most importantly though, was the idea that we simply celebrate the importance of one another and why being a family really matters.
I know the day will eventually come when we won’t all be able to gather around the table so easily. Recently, one of Bob’s girls moved out of the area – so now we are looking to try and coordinate our schedules so she can still Skype in for family dinner on occasion. Further, my parent’s health has been a little up and down in recent years. With this in mind, I am all the more committed to creating moments now; as I know my kids will treasure them all the more in the future.
Tonight, we celebrated Bob’s birthday at our family dinner. It was an evening full of great food, entertaining chat, homemade cake and presents. As an added bonus we decided that we would also take some time to also celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday as well! Now I know that sounds a little unusual, so here’s the back story:
The Back Story: Why Celebrate Bob & Shakespeare?
Earlier this month I received an email from the lovely Misfit – Melissa Leon, who asked me to participate in a pretty cool blogger project that she and AJ Leon have been working on through the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The basic idea was that a large group of bloggers from around the world agree to share a post at some point between April 23 and 30, 2012 that focused on how Shakespeare had impacted their lives. Since we were already set to celebrate Bob’s birthday, it seemed pretty easy to also throw Shakespeare into the mix as well. With that in mind, we moved forward to celebrate the two birthdays together!
Shakespeare’s Influence – A Three Generation Chat
Since I have been using Audioboo on a more frequent basis I thought that it would be a neat idea to record a family conversation about how Shakespeare has influenced and impacted our lives. We ended up having a great chat that involved the three generations of our family. The chat included:
- Emma – 10
- Brittany – 17
- Bob & I
- Mary – My Mom
- Harry – My Dad
Click below to have a listen:
Happy Birthday Bob & Shakespeare!
How has Shakespeare influenced your family’s life? What stories do you have to share?
Thank you so much for sharing your Happy Birthday/Shakespeare moment it was great!!! Happy Birthday Bob….
Thank you very much to all the Shakespearean characters who played their parts in this marvellous play – who wrote the script? I bet it was a team effort.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Jane, I loved being there with your family at the dinner table. Wow. It made me feel like I was there.
Thank you AJ! We were so happy to be part of this project. My family still talks about the night we recorded the Shakespeare audioboo! Thinking we might even do a few more multigeneration recordings!
Thank you so much for sharing this, Jane, I loved being there with your family at the dinner table. Wow. It made me feel like I was there.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Jane, I loved being there with your family at the dinner table. Wow. It made me feel like I was there.