Growing up, family meant going to your grandmas for holidays and seeing everyone and forgetting about all of your problems for a couple hours; just catching up with aunts, uncles, and cousins. As you get older, it changes and it shouldn’t.

You get in relationships, have to find time to split holidays between your parents and your significant other’s parents. Some even start their own family and have kids - sometimes it’s a family member's time to go and people avoid the holidays with the family because it’s not the same.

But why does it change so much? Now it's that you’re lucky if you get everyone in the same house at the same time and get a picture together. Now it seems to be about who likes who more, the typical “How’s school?” question, and the little conversations. It’s not calling or texting anyone like you used to and you use the excuse, “I’ve been so busy with school and work I’m sorry!” But is anyone really THAT busy that you can’t text someone quick to say hey just checking in and saying "I love you?"

The answer is no - we’re on our phones constantly - 24/7 - and we’re never “too busy.” Family is not what it used to be, we take our family for granted sometimes without realizing it until it’s too late and we wish we could go back and change it and wish we did things differently. We don’t always realize what we're doing but we should.

We might not mean it but it happens, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. It is what it is, right? Everyone can ask what you consider family but can you really say what family means to you on the spot? Most can’t, it’s ok. My family means the most to me, from my grandma down to every single cousin of mine, I could tell you my favorite thing about each person and smile the entire time. Having a big family like mine is a blessing in disguise, you have so many people to pick you up when you’re down and so many people behind you no matter what happens and what choices you make in life.

Just remember one thing: they were there when no one else was and always will be. Also, take the time to think about what family means to you. Never take your family for granted, they could be gone in a split second.