Family Ties

Well, hey there, Cadre. Happy, happy Thursday. Yeah, and happy 4 July. Whether this is a day that holds positivity and connection and energy with other people, whether today is a day that maybe you're feeling other things, maybe today's the day that you're missing people and moments and memories. No matter where you are, no matter what's going on, this is a really, really great place to be, and we are really, really glad that you are here. On Thursdays, we talk about caregiving. Hey, speak wonder.

Nice to see you, my friend. I was just about to say we're here for you every single day. So if you're like, oh, gosh, I wonder if I'm going to see my Cadre friends on the 4 July welp, always walking in at the right time. You can check out speak wonders livestream from earlier on today, and you can also check out Shannon's livestream from this morning. So speak wonder says, having a quiet forth and grateful for the opportunity for a little quiet speak wonder. You know, I have been a huge fan over the last, gosh, probably about ten years of having quiet holidays.

It was not my regular occurrence. And all of a sudden, life shifted. And having quiet holidays, it's kind of become one of my favorite things. So on Thursdays, we talk about being in the role of care giver. I wrap up caregiver day with this live stream called family ties. Family ties, of course, the ties that bind us to the people, whether chosen or biological, who make up our families, but also the name of a really great sitcom from back in the eighties. So as we wrap up Caregiver day, I often talk about my existence as being a part of a rather large biological family.

And then, of course, the realities that sometimes make us laugh or cry or bang our heads against the wall as we mosey through our own situational comedies and dramas with being part of family. So I am the one millennial in my family. I have six Gen x siblings, a couple have siblings, a couple adopted siblings, and then a baby boomer mother and a greatest generation father. And I kind of sit in that seat right now of caregiving. My parents, my oldest siblings, while they are still in a chapter of life where they live relatively independently.

You know, I was chatting with my mom earlier on today. For the last decade or so, every six months, I move my mom and my dad down to Florida, and every six months, I move them back up to Minnesota. And today, you know, my mom mentioned, it's like, oh, this will be our last, our last year doing the half year half year, partially because of the. When we get older. Right. So always in the back of my mind, the realities of the ever changing role of being in the seat of family, in the seat of caregiver, care receiver.

Hey, dream big. Nice to see you. By golly, it really is something. I'm grateful for that no matter the day, no matter the time, we can open up that Cadre door and. And the Cadre sphere is right here with some friendly faces. So, as I mentioned, family ties. Right? Great sitcom. I'm going to go with a different sitcom today to set up our little family thai connection. This comes from the last episode of a sitcom called the Wonder Years. The Wonder Years was a sitcom of an american family living the american life in the 1960s.

And in this last episode. So the Wonder Years actually kind of got its idea from the movie a Christmas story. If you remember Ralphie wanting the bb gun and shooting his eye out and all of that stuff. So in the Christmas story, there's always this narrator voice. And the wonder Years got its idea from that movie. And in the last episode, the narrator of the lead character, who was adolescent, who was growing up, and you would always hear his voice, especially at the end of the episode. Here's the monologue from the last episode.

The next day, Winnie and I came home, back to where we'd started. It was the 4 July in that little suburban town. Somehow, though, things were different. Our past was here, but our future was somewhere else. And we both knew sooner or later, we had to go. It was the last July I ever spent in that town. The next year, after graduation, I was on my way. So was Paul, his best friend. He went to Harvard, of course. He graduated with honors and became a lawyer. And he was still allergic to everything.

As for my father, while we patched things up, hey, we were family, for better or for worse. One for all and all for one. Karen, his sister, had a son who was born that September. I got to say, I think he looks a lot like me. Poor kidde. His mom, he says mom. She did well. Businesswoman, board chairman, grandmother. Still cooks the meanest mashed potatoes I know. His brother Wayne stayed on in furniture, which is what his dad worked in. In fact, he took over the factory two years later, after his dad passed away, Winnie, his girlfriend, left the next summer to study art history in Paris.

Still, we never forgot our promise. We wrote each other once a week for the next eight years. I was there to meet her when she came home. So as my wife and our first son, who was eight months old, at the time, like I said, things never turn out exactly the way you'd planned. Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a town a lot like other towns. A house like a lot of other houses.

A yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. The kicker is, after all these years, I still look back with wonder. And that's how this show, six seasons ended. The show which went through the realities of families struggling to make it, went through Vietnam War and all of these things. This last episode took place on the 4 July 1 of these, what I like to call loud days and speak wonder. You rose the point, or you raised the point nicely. Often holidays have a certain volume to them or a certain stickiness to them, and especially when you're in that seat of caregiver, care receiver within that family system.

These days, that can be loud, can be sticky, can have a certain weight. And, as they say, this narrator voice, I remember a town a lot like a lot of other towns, and a house, a lot like a lot of other houses in a yard a lot like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And yet, as he looks back, still looks at it with a lot of wonder. So whether today is, as I offered, a day of celebration, a day of happy memories, a day with others, or a day that maybe is a little bit heavy, a little bit lonely, no matter where you're at within your journey of being one who cares for Orlando or is cared for, as the narrator says, one day we're in diapers and the next day we're gone.

Allowing these days that we've set up to be holidays that we've set up to be special are really, really great reminders that we're meant to have our story. And the way that we tell our story, the way that we remember our story, the way that we see our story today versus one year from now versus ten years ago, is very much our own. You have great agency, great ownership, and how you perceive those stories. Hey, Jules. Happy fourth. So no matter where you are today, if you're grateful for the rest and the quiet like speak, wonder whether today is filled with a lot of noise, a lot of work, a lot of stress.

Yeah, I hope you can find a little bit of wonder within whatever that story holds for you. Whoever just threw the heart up on the side, I saw it. I've received it and I'm sending it right back to you. So again, a little reminder, check out speak wonders live stream from a couple of hours ago and the wonderful Shannon's livestream from this morning. And by golly, we'll see you tomorrow. Have a good one.