Another month is soon to end, and another year is well underway. Time passes on, and changes continue to occur. In our part of the country, one change that is happening and that is greeted with appreciation is the relaxing of COVID restrictions. I am grateful that our family has (so far) escaped the virus, and do not take this gift for granted.

Speaking of family, one only needs to look at our children to understand the power of change. Mike and I just returned from our (almost annual) family trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. While our daughter  Tara and family travelled to Park City last year to ski, Mike and I did not make that trip. Most years our daughter Tara and her family and Mike and I travel to Steamboat Springs in January or February, although some years other family members have been with us. One year Uncle Barry was with us. Daughter Chatham has been to Steamboat with us a couple of times, and her husband Johnathan was along for the trip once, but grandson Drew has yet to make the trip. Our dear friend MoMo has also travelled with us to Steamboat and has a skiing injury to remember that year by!

As Mike and I have aged, we have spent more time indoors in Ski Town USA, as Steamboat is known, than outside in the snow. We are fine with Tara, Stephen, Mary Grace, Elsie, and Virginia skiing while we sit by the fire and enjoy our surroundings. Although we did ski in our younger years, we have decided that it is not worth the risk to our older bodies to get on the slopes at our current ages.

Our family has enjoyed traveling together and creating traditions and memories. Photos are an important record of traditions and memories. As I look back on our trips to Steamboat, I am amazed at how much we have all changed. One can certainly use the word “aged” for the changes we older ones have experienced, but words that better express the changes our children have experienced are “grown and developed.” Our photos of our trips to Steamboat through the years reflect these changes better than any other tangible example. These changes reinforce to me the importance of making time to be together, creating traditions and memories that will last forever. And of course, our traditions and memories can be made at home, they do not have to involve traveling to ski resorts.

This blog post completes the posts for February, whose theme has been “Relationships.” I began the month with a focus on relationships with ourselves. In this last blog post of the month, the relationship of focus is family.

What traditions and memories has your family created? It is never too late to get started.