My Flammily

Have you ever felt so incredibly blessed to be a part of something?
Something that touches your heart and soul, something that makes you happy every time you think about it?

I’m talking about the love of family.

Flammily love.

There are some people who go through life never getting to experience this feeling, and that makes me sad.
I grew up as the 3rd of 7 children and I would not have wanted it any other way.
Both of my parents come from large families – my dad was one of five and my mom was one of eight.
For my entire life, I have been surrounded by family.

My mom is a Flamm.  Between my mom and her siblings, there are 29 children.
7 of those include myself and my siblings; 22 of them are my cousins.  Talk about a big family!

We lost our grandfather 10 years ago and our grandmother nearly 6 years ago, and since then, it has been much harder for everyone to get together.  Back in the fall, their house was sold and that was a hard time for all of us.  It was like saying goodbye to the memories that had been made there – a final farewell.

But as one of my cousins put so eloquently – “Such a great place with awesome memories.
Hopefully someone will love it as much as we did!”

And boy, did we love it!  From every holiday gathering to parties on the deck to that funky carpet in the upstairs play room, we made some incredible memories in that house.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

Last October, I was due to have surgery to resect any remaining tumors I had.  About a week before the surgery, my uncle Rick heard Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” for the first time.  He immediately contacted my sister and asked if she would request inspiring photos from family members and set them to the song for me to watch right before going in for my surgery.  She was able to collect photos from both sides of our family and the end result?  See for yourself.  *Warning: You will need tissues.

 

And just last weekend at a cousin’s wedding, “Fight Song” was requested
and the Flammily rallied around me once again.

This is what family does.  Family comes together in times of need, in times of trial.
Our Nin and PaPa taught us this so well.

It is something instilled in every one of us.

Their entire life story is beautiful to me.  How they met in the strawberry patch, raised 8 children, always had a house full of grandchildren ~ and sticking by each other every step of the way.  There were definitely hard times, as any relationship worth having brings, but they pushed through it and taught all of us what family truly means.

As I’m battling this awful disease once again, I am so grateful for the love and support I receive from family and friends.  I am reminded that family is everything ~ they will always be your biggest fans, cheering you on and holding you up when you want to fall.

Being part of such a huge family has blessed me in so many ways I cannot count.

As our elderly loved ones pass away and the young grow up and go their separate ways, it can be very easy to drift apart.  It has been really tough to get everyone together at the same time over the last several years.
But what is so incredible to me is that every time we get together, we have such a great time!
Some of my greatest memories are with my Flamm cousins!

As the cousins grow up and get married, we always get a cousin photo taken.

It’s such a great memory to be able to look back on!

We also have a tradition of ending each family wedding with a song that honors our PaPa –

Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
There is never a dry eye in the house.

For each anniversary (and when he would have an “Albertism”) PaPa would send Nin flowers and simply wrote “Still do” on the card.  He still loved her, he still cherished her, she was still his best friend…
Though this Flammily doesn’t see each other as often as any of us would like,
I want all of you to know that I “still do.”
I still love being with all of you, I still cherish you, I still consider you my greatest friends.
God sure knew what He was doing when He put all of us together!