Everyone has dreams and goals. We all appreciate it when others sincerely support our efforts and encourage us. Everyone has their ups and downs.  We appreciate it when others stop to help us as best they can.  These concept are SO SIMPLE, yet we often find the execution so difficult.  Maybe it is the distraction of day to day responsibilities or being absorbed in our own issues – but often, it takes an extra effort to break away from our self-centered existence and draw a line to another dot in our family-tree.

We can support each other in many different ways.  There is moral support when someone is feeling down; emotional support if they have suffered a loss or blow; or financial support to take some pressure off another as you are able.  We can also encourage our family members by attending their games, performances and events; recognizing their talents and abilities; bragging about them; and providing infrastructure and opportunities to succeed.  Again, obvious concepts that often take a conscious effort on our part to execute.

One of my personal regrets is that I did not ackowledge or take enough of an active interest in my Mom’s compositions and posts.  She was quite the avid writer and always wanted to share her works with me, but there was always something in the way – work, kids, laziness.  Only after her passing, did I take the time to read every post and manuscript to see her talent and passion for the written word.  Too little, too late – I never got to tell her how much I enjoyed them and she never had the satisfaction of seeing me appreciating her effort.  However, it did teach me a lesson about the importance of not letting future opportunites with the rest of my family go down the same sad path.

Our family has MANY stories of encouragement and support that I will share as time goes on.  The first was years in the making and will likely be appreciated by those of you who have experienced the evolution of a GARAGE BAND…