One of the Closest Families I Know.

When I was a freshman in high school, I met a new friend. Her name is Sandy. We immediately clicked and became very close friends.
When I spent the night with her, I was introduced to a different world.
Her family was so much fun. All of the kids in the neighborhood hung out at their house. It's not because they let the kids get away with anything. They just had fun. We watched movies, had parties, listened to music, they took us to the beach. (I lived in Florida all of my life and hardly ever went to the beach!)
Their house was a mess. They had 2 big dogs and who knows how many cats. The laundry piled up. The dishes piled up. Nobody seemed to notice.
Except my mom. My mom was kind of mortified by them.
I remember Sandy's Dad walking around the house, singing all the time and drinking a beer. He wasn't a drunk, but he enjoyed a few beers on the weekend. I still always think of him when I hear "Saturday, in the park, think it was the fourth of July..."
Sandy has three sisters, and those girls could talk to their mom about anything. It's not that she never got mad...oh, boy, did they get mad...but there was just an openness that I so envied.
They loved passionately and they got angry passionately. Sandy was the huggiest person I knew! She hugged everyone, all the time.
I remember once, Sandy's mom caught us sneaking our boyfriends up to Sandy's room. We weren't up to anything terribly bad, just a little smooching and giggling and kid stuff. But her mom was pissed! And I remember Sandy asked her Mom if she was going to tell my mother. And Sandy's mom said, "No, but if she has any kind of relationship with her mother, she'll tell her herself."
I didn't tell my mother.
Sandy and I have been in and out of touch since high school. I looked her up and called her when I read in the paper that her father had died.
She told me all about it, and she had me sobbing on the phone. Those girls adored their father.
And still to this day, all four girls are so close to their mother.
Were they perfect parents? Nope. Did they do everything right? I doubt it.
But the love in that family is almost a tangible thing. You can feel it when you're around them. They are unbelievably close, all of them. They practically worship their mother, and their dad's memory.
That's the kind of family I want to have. That's the kind of parent I want to be.
Sandy's parents knew what was important. It wasn't having a sparkling house and manicured lawn. It wasn't holding back your feelings so as not to rock the boat. It wasn't what the neighbors think of you.
It was yelling and hugging and spending time together as a family having FUN. It was talking about anything and everything. It was something I can't even put a name to; it was a feeling. I only hope that I can replicate it with my family.
Sandy's mom can look at her grown, successful girls now, and how much they absolutely adore her, and know without a doubt that she did something right.
And truly, in the end, what could be more important?