Family is special and important. We try hard to keep in contact with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. But, it is not always easy when family lives far away. When my children were very young, Jacob wasn't even born yet, my parents moved 900 miles away. But we wanted the kids to know them and have a relationship with them. So, we got creative. Besides letter and special packages (They were always sealed with a label that said "Somebody in Texas loves you." which led to my parents being nick named Grandma and Grandpa Texas.) we also made use of the telephone. We had unlimited minutes on our cell phones after certain hours, so the grandparents could call and read books to the kids over the phone. As you can see from the page I scanned from Jacob's scrapbook, his grandpa often read Hank the Cowdog to him. If we could, we would have a copy of the books for the kids to read along with. This was a very special time for the kids and their grandparents and a wonderful way to bond across the miles.
Now we have skype and facetime and lots of nice and easy ways to see each other across the miles. If you have family that is not close, find time to connect in some way so that your family can seem closed even if they are not.
My parents now live 5 miles away but the bond they built with my kids was already there from the time we took to build a relationship when they were far away.
Jen
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