Lesson Learned: Never miss a big birthday

My grandmother just turned 90, so my entire family gathered in Frankfurt, Illinois to celebrate. We were missing two, my cousins Leah and Charlie who are expecting very shortly and thought it best to play it safe and stay home.  But other than that it was a star-studded event (well at least when it comes to the Kaplans). One cousin flew in from LA, others drove from Ohio, aunts and uncles made the trip from Indiana, and I took an early Saturday morning flight from Raleigh, made it to Chicago by noon, and drove up with my family (about a 45 minute trip on the way there, cut a little bit shorter when my brother snagged the steering wheel on the way back).

My grandmother said all she wanted for her birthday was to be with family and that’s exactly what we did. Good company, great food, and of course presents since birthday celebrations also fell on Hanukkah this year.

I will admit my travel experience was rough, flying in on Saturday, out on Sunday, and of course there were complications but I would do it again this weekend. The older I get the more I want to spend the good times with the ones I love the most (I know cheesy) but this was definitely a lesson learned, if you can, never miss a big birthday.

Happy Birthday Grandma, enjoy the video!