2020 Is Over (Thankfully!) Make 2021 The Year Of Your Family

That guy on the left in the picture is my brother. A lot of people that have known him for years and years say he sure does look like our dad.

That guy on the right is me. A lot of people say that I sure do look like Brad Pitt. Well, not a lot of people, but some people. Well, not some people, but a few people.

Ok, no one has ever said I look like Brad Pitt.

Get our free mobile app

2020 was a year to forget. A tough year it was, on a whole bunch of levels. But 2021 is looking a whole lot better, and yes on a whole bunch of levels. On one of those levels, make 2021 the year you get back to the family. Go ahead, see those parents, grandparents, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, cousins.

If there was one lesson 2020 taught us, or should have, it's how important both your close and extended family is. We may have taken those people just a little but for granted. Let's not do that anymore.

My brother up there has had to battle some serious health issues over the past two and a half years or so. And then when the pandemic hit last year, well it slowed and shut down things even more. I think for a long time I had taken him for granted. Heck, he was just the kid I grew up with on that little farm by Leota. Always there. We grew up and went our separate ways, had our families, had our lives. We'd meet once or twice a year, usually at our folks' place. No big deal.

Well, our folks passed away some years ago and that experience brought us a little closer together. Then he came face-to-face with a huge health issue and that brought us a little closer together again. I discovered something I guess I always knew. I loved that big lug, my older brother. And then of course here comes the Coronavirus and in a general sense, nobody was seeing no one.

But finally, here comes 2021! Just recently my grandson Lane graduated high school and my brother and his wife Nancy came to the graduation party. It was almost like old times, with one exception.

I found myself appreciating our time together a whole lot more than I used to. I think it was the fact I wasn't taking it for granted anymore.

So what do you say? As things are 'opening up' again and life gets back to being a little more 'normal', take a breath and check out that family of yours.

Ain't they something!