This week my extended family has joined our yearly winter getaway. We are not known for reunions, my own immediate family accustomed to just our own company. Being in the middle of the crazy family stories that I moved far away to avoid now, years later, makes me realize that really all they are is stories. It was particularly poignant to have the whole group of us, three generations, watching “Little Miss Sunshine” together. 

The beauty of the film was the lesson of how we learn in our own private disfunctions to live collectively. It is painful and arduous work because we are all somewhat nuts, making wise and not so wise decisions. Living with each other requires both patience and humility. These are the primary lessons of family reunions, that we all carry our own stories like the truth, repeating them like family lore. Our attachment to them sometimes surpassing our attachment to each other. Giving up family time and what is possible as we grow older for the sake of our family history is a mistake. And anyime you think your own family is over the top, watch Little Miss Sunshine and feel grateful for your own private family craziness.