| In the long run, you're going to walk away from your | | | | 1. Set up a Facebook page for your family (families?): It |
| wedding (well, many of you will!) marveling at how | | | | may be that your parents enjoyed getting to know |
| wonderful it was to see your whole family gathered | | | | one another. Connect people. Ask for recipes, |
| around and wondering why you never get together | | | | genealogies, knitting patterns or instructions in changing |
| just to hang out. | | | | the oil in your car or a light bulb. Make it a club people |
| Your family's are going to be so happy to have caught | | | | want to join. It doesn't take much to stir the pot. And |
| up with one another's lives and stories and maybe to | | | | most people from grandma on down are on |
| have had one last visit with Great Aunt Jane. Little | | | | Facebook. |
| cousins are going to meet and find out that they really | | | | 2. Plan a Family Work Day: Choose a favorite charity |
| do have families. | | | | and go spend a day working together. Picking up trash |
| Our lives are so different from 2 generations ago, | | | | along a river or helping a disabled person winterize |
| when people mostly grew up and married in the same | | | | their dwelling is something everyone's willing to do, |
| towns in which they'd been born. You saw extended | | | | regardless of political affiliations! Plan a picnic or a |
| family at church and picnics and holidays. Now we | | | | barbecue at the end of the day. |
| almost always have to travel to see family. We have | | | | 3. Plan a Family Retreat: Make it big. Find a church |
| to divide our time between my family and yours. | | | | camp where you can all stay off season, invite families |
| We're clannish beings, we human beings, we like being | | | | from both sides and invite your sibs to invite their |
| connected. We like looking like our forebears and | | | | families from both sides. Take walks, play games, |
| discovering that we have similar interests as people | | | | cook together and have an all around great time. The |
| we're related to. | | | | kids will all get to know one another, the elders can |
| Now, because you have this great list with everyone's | | | | explain the ins and outs of social medicine to one |
| name on it, you can work at getting connected. You | | | | another and you've had a cheap and fun weekend! |
| can (easily) become the family organizer. Take the | | | | There are plenty of other ways to keep your families |
| skills you used setting up your wedding home page to | | | | connected and growing. Each one of them keeps you |
| set up an on-line home for your families. Plan a reunion. | | | | working together on your marriage and your family. It |
| Find ways to stay in touch and keep others in touch in | | | | helps your families view you as a couple they want to |
| both virtual and real ways. You'll be surprised who | | | | support. And that's the way it should be! You've got |
| wants to be "in" the family. | | | | the skills. Now put them to use, building a community |
| | | | that will support your marriage's health and well-being! |