The Giving {Family} Tree

When I went to Florida to join my family on vacation earlier this month,

my mom seized the opportunity to book family pictures on the beach.

You know the type,

where everyone wears white or khaki pants

& some sort of coordinating shirt.

While this isn't exactly my scene, 

I am happy to oblige my mom

by throwing on a shirt & straightening my hair.

So out to the beach we tromped like a special unit of the JCrew army.

where we spent the next two hours flopping around in the sand,

screaming and the kids to get them to look at the camera...

and having our own fun while the photographer siphoned off family members for pictures.

As I look back over the pictures I took during the shoot, 

I feel really fortunate to be a part of this silly family.

While we may appear overly-confident & fling sarcastic comments at each other freely,

the truth is that every last person in my family has a really soft-heart.

Each of them continuously makes themselves vulnerable to others,

keeps themselves open to new relationships,

& deeply cares about how others perceive their actions.

Today, we are constantly fed the thought

that it doesn't matter how what other people think of us.

We are reminded that we shouldn't live our lives to please others.

We refer to someone who is "sensitive" in a negative light.

And while I agree with that to an extent,

I love that the people in my family

still care so much about others.

I appreciate the fact that they care about me enough

to put up with nonsense that they probably have no real interest in

other than the fact that they want to support me.

{e.g. they sometimes read this little blog}

And that's why I ( along with my siblings & our spouses) 

am more than happy to put on matching clothes

and take a million pictures while my hair flaps around like a windsock.

Honestly, it take so little to make others happy,

and usually ends up pretty fun.

I wish I could remember that more often.

Now it's your turn,

what simple thing can you do

to take care of someone else today?

*All images original to Aspiring Kennedy

**Somehow I didn't get any pictures of my sisters. Luckily, the photographer got some good ones.