Originally posted by: SirChadwick
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Once a week... We have a tradition of getting together on Sunday nights to have dinner and watch movies.
That would be nice. I enjoy dinner, movies, and just get togethers. But now I'm living 3 1/2 hours away from my Mother and step-fam and I visit them once a month or less.
Take my advice for what it is....some guy on the intarweb.....
Building or re-building relationships no matter what they are takes effort (paternal, marital, familiar, professional, doesn't matter.)
The best analogy I can offer is relationships are like a garden. If you don't feed and care for them you will not get the results you desire. Put in the love and care, and you receive love and care in return.
The only difference with familial love is that it is pretty much unconditional in most cases. Unlike my garden analogy if a garden dies it takes a lot of effort to regrow, requiring much care. But with familial love it only takes a quick watering or feeding to have it blossom in a short amout of time.
Pick up the phone and call your family. If you want a closer relationship then do something about it. Just pick up the phone and say "hey, was thinking about you and just wanted to see what is going on in your world." Use this tool for all relationships that may have drifted, ALL RELATIONSHIPS - ex'es don't count. If you truly want a better relationship, then you will do something to improve it - we're talking a 10 minute conversation here, so "I don't have the time" is not a valid excuse.
-edit-
I'm biased. time to re-connect and bond with your family is limited. they don't live forever.