Recently, I was having dinner at home and I was going through my video collection to find something to watch while I ate dinner. What I decided to watch was a videotape of my family at Christmas, 1987.

I put the tape in, pushed play, and began to cry. Quietly, I said to myself, "I want my family back."

The videotape showed something I both loved and missed for the past ten years; my entire family; my mother, sister, cousins, aunt, friends and other family members, were spending time together, laughing, talking, loving, being a family. The reason it made me cry is because it hasn’t happened since. In ten years, we haven’t gotten together like that – until now.

Recently, my sister Laura and I threw a surprise birthday party for my mother. (I’ll admit that because of the time I spend at this job, Laura did most of the preparing, thanks Sis!) While it all went very well, and my mother was both surprised and happy, I got the gift, and it was the greatest gift of all – for the first time in ten years, my entire family was together – my mother, my sister, everyone else on the videotape as well as some new faces were there. Even my cousin Roseanne and her three children, Meagan, Kelley and Haley, all the way from Arizona, came in for the festivities.

Although my mother was the guest of honor, I was the luckiest and the happiest person there. At one point during the party, fighting back tears, I quietly said to myself, "I got my family back."

That day, something I had both missed and wished for the past ten years had finally come true. My family was together again. We were spending time together, laughing, talking, loving, being a family. I can’t tell you how good it felt to see everyone together again. To have everyone come over to me and tell me that they loved my newspaper, that they missed me and that they were glad to see me. I must tell you, it was hard to keep from crying.

The hardest part was having to brush away tears when my cousins Meagan, Kelley and Haley, my three little angels, would come over to me and hug me. I realized that, since I have not seen them since they moved to Arizona three years ago, I missed so much of their growing up. Now, they’re not so little anymore, they’re three beautiful young women ready to conquer the world (and break a few hearts along the way).

All of us have families, and what really disgusts me is that all of us have family members that we see on a "once in a blue moon" basis. Why? Are our lives so hectic that we can’t take a few minutes to see how our own flesh and blood are doing? When do we see these lost parts of ourselves? On holidays? At weddings? At funerals? Why not just on Sunday, or for dinner next Thursday, or just because you are a part of my family and I love you?

Many of you have written me letters telling me that my "Penny For My Thoughts" column comes straight from my heart. Well, you’re right, both this column, and this next paragraph, comes straight from the bottom of my heart:

After you read the rest of this column, take a moment to make a list of all of the members of your family, then, take a highlighter and highlight those family members that you have not seen and/or spoken to in the last two months, now realize why keeping in touch with your family is so important. Don’t miss years of your cousins growing up. Don’t have a distant relative call you up and ask you where you are working after you have been at that job for years. Don’t see a relative at a "once in a blue moon" affair and promise you’ll call them, because chances are, you won’t. Instead, pick up the phone and call a family member, any family member and tell them that you just wanted to say "hi" and see how they were doing, plan a family reunion, make a date with a cousin or nephew to take them to a movie. Keep in touch. Remember, they’re the only family you’ve got.

And to all my family out there, expect to hear from me real soon. I love you all.