Those We Leave Behind

This past Saturday was my Grandma's 80th birthday.  We had a big family party in honor of the momentous occasion.  And when I say big, I mean big.  Because my family is hugemongous. 

My grandparents had twelve children.

Those twelve children produced quite a lot of of their own children.

And those grandchildren are creating their own football team or two.  We aren't finished adding to the roster just yet.

It's hard to get this many people together in the same spot at the same time.  Even with the amount of people that came, a few families were still unable to make it.  Gasp.  I know.  It's hard to contemplate even more people belonging to my family.  It kind of makes you wonder if we plan on taking over the world someday or something.  Unfortunately, I can't divulge that kind of information at this time.

Spending the day with my large family made me miss living in Wisconsin in the worst way.  I'm missing watching my baby cousins grow up.  No family camping trips.  Or lunches with my closest cousins.  We knew when we moved away that the absolute hardest thing about leaving would be who we left behind.

And most days, it's worth it.  Because we have a fabulous life.  New adventures, new places, new people.  Financial stability.  We have a lot of things that we didn't have before.  I love our military life, and right now I wouldn't trade it for anything.

But leaving people behind is never, ever going to stop hurting.

Happy birthday, Grandma!