When I travel from Kansas City to my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, my heart starts beating faster about 20 miles west of Nashville. There's a feeling that washes over me as my car follows its course over the rolling hills and brings me closer and closer to home.
Last weekend, I made that trip for a very special event. My great niece, Rachel, married Kevin, her boyfriend of four years. Brad, his girlfriend Missy, Meghann and I drove 1,400 miles in two and a half days to attend the wedding. Almost a year ago, my niece made that same drive to come to my son Matt's wedding. It was a long trip in a short amount of time, but I wouldn't have missed Rachel and Kevin's wedding for anything. Rachel and my son Matt are only a couple of months apart in age, and before I moved from Chattanooga, they were good buddies, along with Jeremy, Rachel's brother.
The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was so much fun. We danced like fools, ate the best prime rib ever, cried, laughed and enjoyed every moment together. There's nothing like spending time with family, especially when that time is spent in celebration of the marriage of two wonderful young people.
As we ate breakfast together the next morning before we had to leave town, I sat at the table and looked at my sister and her husband, my nieces and their husbands, and my three-year-old great niece and 11-month-old great nephew, my son and his girlfriend, and my daughter. My eyes brimmed with tears as the love I feel for these wonderful people washed over my heart.
The gift of family is one of God's greatest, I believe. And one that many of us often take for granted in the hustle and bustle of life. My prayer is that I will always appreciate my family, both near and far, and that I will truly treasure those ties that bind us all together. We may not physically be together, but in our hearts, the ties are strong and the ties are deep. And that, is indeed, a blessing.
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