While spending the past weekend in Toledo, Ohio, for a conference, I noticed the small-town charm of the city, complete with families visiting the local museums and playing in the park. It was very refreshing to see so many people spending time with each other, seemingly without a care in the world.
Sitting in a quaint restaurant downtown - right next to the city's ballpark - with my fellow conference attendees, I saw several families dressed in full baseball regalia enjoying their meals. I smiled as I watched them walk over to the ballpark, hand in hand, laughing and enjoying the moments of just being together. A bit corny, yes, but I began reminiscing about my own family traditions and realizing how important relationships with our families still are in today's society.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we are often too preoccupied with chatting on our cell phones or sending e-mails to realize the effect of actually being with our loved ones. As students, we find ourselves in an even more difficult place when it comes to family togetherness because we face the obstacles of distance and time management, as well as the delicate balance between academics and extracurricular involvement. When we do get the chance to be at home with family, catching up with old friends often gets prioritized above having dinner with parents and siblings.
We do not deliberately make these choices to avoid our families - sometimes we just do not see what we're missing out on.
Life was quite simple for most of us as children, when our family members were our role models and the greatest gift from them was a trip to the zoo - rather than tuition payments.
The transition from childhood to adulthood, toys to textbooks and rambunctiousness to responsibility hasn't been an easy road for us as individuals - but for our families, it can be just as bad.
Grandparents feel that, as we become adults, we no longer want to spend time with them - frequent visits with them during school breaks have been replaced by the ever-present homework and studying. Parents think we depend on them to take care of our laundry while we seek out our roommates for important life-changing advice. And to other members of our families, we become referred to at family reunions as "the busy college students."
As adults, we are equally accountable for recognizing and appreciating our families who support us and hold no harsh feelings when we accidentally place them on the back burner.
We don't have to visit monkeys at the zoo or have a night out at the local ballpark, though, in order to sustain the close relationships we can have with our families.
A phone call or e-mail to a loved one is nice when there is no other option, but when you do finally make your way home - be it this upcoming weekend, over the summer or when you finish that internship in the fall - remember the people who make it a home.
Even the most simple traditions - such as eating dinner together without television and other nuisances - can recreate that sense of family unity we had so long ago.
By taking such cues from a "small town" like Toledo, we can hopefully restore the significance of close relationships with family. The reassurance of love and support from them is better than any day spent at the ballpark.
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