Is anyone really that important?

This weekend my little family attended a family reunion. This is deemed "A Long Weekend" because My mother in law's maiden name is Long, and, it really is a longgggg weekend. This was my 5th year attending the overwhelming blast of questions and catching up that happens when you put 50 people in one place who haven't seen each other in a year. There was family from all over the country attending, and let me just say how not like my family that is. My family barely gets together for Christmas and Thanksgiving, so it is surprising to me that Jay's whole family likes each other enough to fly from all over the place to spend three and a half days together. It is mind blowing, and wonderful. 

The best thing about this yearly trip is that there is zero technology. We go and stay at a cabin in the woods which we share. There is no T.V. There is no cell service, which means no candy crush, Pandora, or Blogging even. (gasp!) 

For the first time in five years I really appreciated this trip. Let me first tell you how not outdoorsy I am. I could also tell you that I have Lupus and cannot handle the heat, and I absolutely suck at making fires, corn hole, and board games. But for some reason this trip was eye opening.

I did in fact play corn hole, which did lead to some injuries I call "corn hole arm" I also played other outdoor games, board games, and generally survived. 

The important thing is that my husband LOVES all of those things in which I do not like. He really did appreciate me attending and participating. Year by year I try to do a little more and since this campground is on a lake and a whole outdoor park I would like to do even more next year. 

Jay has been patient with me through it all while I grasp the importance of family, and even extended family which are concepts I have never had. I grew up very different from Jay and I am sure that if he was thrown into my upbringing he would be intimidated too.

Having 50 extra people I barely know care about me is confusing, yet settling.

I will attend yearly, if nothing else, to get the quality time with my family that not having technology allows. You would never believe how liberating it is to sit by the water, soak in nature and watch the most natural thing, love happening. 

These days, I feel like the world is emotionally exhausted. Everyday we are so busy. But with what?

We sit in front of the t.v., our cell phones, video games, and the computer for hours on end. When we're done, we are emotionally exhausted because the mind in tricked into thinking we're really racing a car or slaying a dragon in real life instead of on the video game. The sucky part is that we're not. We end up emotionally exhausted from all the insights into our 500 facebook friend's status updates, and all the drama that entails. We end up emotionally drained by the 3,000 text messages and conversations that we are endlessly having. We are emotionally exhausted. Too exhausted to have a conversation in real life, or to do physical labor, that the day use to be made of. 

My question is, When did we get so damn important?

When did every individual person start to need to be reached immediately? We have an addiction to having our cell phones at our side, and we're lost without them. We must reply to every text right away, stop our day to write that email. 

It dawned on me while I was laying on the beach by the water watching my son and husband play that, those exact moments are what weekends were once made of. 

Once upon a time you came home and shut the world out. You came home to your family. Just your family. Moms and Dads played with their kids, ate dinner together, sang songs around a piano. (I am not sure where the last one came from.) And the whole family enjoyed each other. Weekends were made up of more family time. 

During this moment of clarity I couldn't help but wonder if the growing technology is a big factor in why families fall apart. Today we text and read articles during dinner and that makes us think the rest of the world has something more interesting to say than those sitting across from you.

I wont even get into the benefits/downfalls of technology because that is not my point. The real point here is that we can't let technology take place of personal contact, and family bonding. 

Give yourself a break, guys.