Let's Keep in Touch

How many times have we said "Let's keep in touch!" to our family members, especially distant family members, after a great weekend or a holiday together and never made it happen? Too many. "Remind me to call your Aunt," "Remind me to call my cousin," "Remind me to send her a birthday card." These are standard conversations we're all used to hearing. But we get busy, we get lazy, we get caught up and forget to do the things we promised we'd do. As the holidays approach and you'll likely see those family members you promised you'd keep in touch with last year, I thought I'd share a few strategies I use with my family to stay connected.

• Family email chain. This is super easy and definitely works best with immediate family. As my brother says, "the spirit of this chain is to make the communication easy; we do not need a daily update on everything but it will be nice to hear from people." We started this email chain when Dan left for Afghanistan, but it's been a great tool for everyone to update each other on different happenings.
• Adding everyone on social media. As silly as it sounds, why not follow or friend your aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings on social media? You might not want your whole family to see you chugging from a bottle of champagne, but let's be real people, that probably shouldn't be on Facebook anyway. Plus, social media is a great way for everyone to keep in touch. Since I have almost 50 cousins on my mom's side, I often forget where they go to college or when their birthdays are, but an extra reminder from the social media we are already checking daily goes a long way. 
• Make time. It's easy to get caught up in our own lives, and I'm guilty of that for sure. But making time for each other is the best way to keep a family close. My family started monthly family dinners, where we all get together and just catch up. They've ranged from fancy dinners in the North End to pizza parties at my parents house. We always invite friends and significant others and put aside our crazy lives, even if just a few hours. Maybe monthly isn't feasible for your family, so make it every other month or twice a year or even use a Google Hangout to virtually eat at the same time. All that matter is that you make time for each other.

As always, "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family"-AB