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FEBRUARY ADDITIONAL MEETING

On Thursday morning, February 28th, we had our Additional Meeting at the home of Mary Alice Hatch. The subject was family connections. We were treated to a presentation by Brynley Lazar on healing from perfectionism. She drew heavily on the book entitled "Am I a Saint Yet? Healing The Pain of Perfectionism" by M. Sue Bergin.

The talk Brynley gave has been sent out as an email. If you were not able to attend and are interested, this is a good way to get the essence of Brynley's inspiring message.

Next, we heard some ideas from Jane Rhodes on how to connect with our immediate family members. Jane referenced a blog post she wrote about family traditions that is entitled "Making a Tribe." In this post, Jane quotes from writings by Rebecca Parker Payne on the subject of their annual tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree. Part of what Rebecca Payne says is "Traditions peppered our childhood lives." Jane has started (and is continuing, which is the hardest part) many fun traditions with her family. Every Christmas Eve they eat sushi and go bowling. When they eat takeout, there is a "floor picnic" and they eat on the floor on a spread-out tablecloth. Over the Christmas holidays, they go to Mexico every year. Each of her children accompanies her husband on one of his business trips abroad at some point. When it is time for a haircut, it is a special occasion and involves lunch or a snack afterwards. Anything can be made into a fun activity with a little thought beforehand and an eye toward better interpersonal connections and stronger relationships.

Jane said that keeping the connection with her family is something that is immensely valuable to her. She does activities with her children that everyone can enjoy together. She joins them in what they enjoy doing. They all do yoga at the same time but not necessarily in the same class. We got so many inspiring and creative ideas from her presentation!

Next we had a time when we were able to talk about the things we have done or wanted to do to connect with our immediate or extended family. Kristine Bullen said that her mother used to write her little notes and just put them around the house for her. Now that her mother is gone, Kristine treasures those notes and feels that it is her mother talking to her. Some ideas that were presented were: Getting the Guess Who game and pasting pictures of your ancestors on it, having a date night with an individual child each week, making a video for extended family of the daily activities around your house, finding a child in the family who needs extra attention and having that child give the family prayer and then going around and each family member giving that child a compliment, and lastly, making sure that the traditions you choose to implement have meaning for your family. Don't do it if you don't enjoy it!

There was a table with some albums and notes that people have made for their families - scrapbooks, notes, photos,that highlight family connections. A photo of some of the items on that table appears at the top of this post. Some more photos are below.

Many thanks to the participants in this inspiring and fun morning. And thanks again to Mary Alice for opening her home to us - it's a wonderful place for a chance for us to connect with each other!