Regrets & Growing Closer to Family

I think it's silly to hold on to a load of regrets in life so I choose the ones I claim very carefully. I have little, not enough to count on my fingers, and I'm very grateful for that. I think a regret must be something classified as a mistake you made that you could have changed.

One of my regrets is not getting to know my family better. I've only lost a few, two to be exact. I lost my great grandmother in the spring of 2004 and my father in the summer of 2005. I am ashamed that I was old enough to know better than to ignore the final days before their passing and acknowledge how immature it was to hide behind my faux busy schedules.

*the left is Grandma Scruggs when she was 25 and the right is my favorite photo of my Dad & Me*

In an even bigger wash of self-hatred I admit that I have not been ashamed enough to change my relationship with my still breathing family members. I'm trying, but not hard enough.

Blame it on my emotional child parented by my need for immediate self-gratification and laziness but I've found something (I originally acquired years ago) that I have decided not to put off another year: A Personal History Questionnaire published by Real Simple Magazine in 2005.

I think I'm going to make a binder with pages for each question and room for selected family members to answer... OR maybe type out some of the questions for an e-mailed response and have a book printed from a website. I'll peruse my options and get back to you when I finally decide. I guess that would make this DIY post 1 of 2!