Can anyone explain the blood and water thing when it comes to family?

We’ve just said our sad goodbyes to my sister-in-law, my seventeen-year old nephew and fourteen-year-old niece. They’ve gone back to South Africa and chances are that we won’t see them for another couple of years. But the connection is like an invisible cord woven from granny’s wool. Even my daughter, who has only seen them five or six times, spent three weeks draped around her girl cousin. And my niece didn’t mind sleeping on the pull out bed in Gabi’s room despite the four year age difference and the fact that there were free beds in our home.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that we don’t have to work really hard at family relationships. We do. It’s just that when they are forged, their mettle seems stronger. And easier. Easier to hug, easier to tease, easier to relax.

I’ll really miss these guys.  Thank goodness for Facebook!