WeDogs Barking: Family by Ceremony

I'm sure you're familiar with Godparents.....

For most Catholics it's a tradition, and for others it's a legal process that ensures kids have a caring subsitute if anything should happen to their parents.

Well, not many people have had the type of Godparents I've had....

I picked mine when I went through the Rite of First Communion. Imagine getting a choice...see even in this....I was SO spoiled ;)

I had a set of Godparents from infancy, but they were not nearly as involved in my life as my sister's set of Godparents.....who also happen to be our Aunt and Uncle.

So I adopted her Godparents as my own (and they accepted!), and from there our little 'GodFamily' came together.

Sara, Stephanie, and Tricia were all baptized by them, as well as a their nephew Michael.
And in different ways our families were all familiar.

But in the best way ever....we were now bonded.

Our Godfather, or Nino, as we called him, passed away almost a decade ago. I remember it was a few months after we got married. (I still remember how I cried days later while I was painting a red wall in our first house. It's funny how you associate feelings with memories.)

Our Godmother, or Nina, lives here in town, and she hosted a lunch for us to gather and reminisce the other day.

We were in for such a surprise as she brought down a HUGE box of photos for us to sort through.

I will be scanning and posting about them on our family site.....they are just too amazing for words. But for now you can see the 'modern day' motley crew.

That box was full of year, after year of annual trips that spanned our entire childhood years. One day I'll work out the timeline, but I am the oldest, and I was probably around 8 or 9 when we took our first trip to Marine World. And that was a huge trip, considering it was in Redwood City back then! Can you imagine taking charge of four girls ages 9 and younger ........little Sara was only 5 the first time our Godparents took us out of town!

But off we went to be wined, and dined and treated like princesses!

Off the top of my head- we took trips to Yosemite, Catalina Island, Universal Studios, and Disneyland, just to name a few.

Nino used to tell us that he wanted to make sure we knew how to be treated well. So he taught us to order lobster, and oysters, and to expect the utmost from a gentleman.

Obviously, he knew that with those faces, there would be many suitors to worry about ;)

This year, it was especially touching as Nina invited Steph and I to bring our girls along.

She made sure our little ladies had toys to play with and ice cream for a treat. She said it reminded her of us when we were small. It's amazing to put into words that she's been a part of our lives for decades!

We laughed so much about our pre-teen moodiness, and terrible fashion statements, our sleepovers, and spending money, souvenirs and misadventures! What great times!!

Between the four of us we've celebrated 4 weddings, four babies, relocations and new careers...all under the watchful eye of our Nina.
There isn't a doubt in my mind that Nino would be proud of these girls.

Not that he seems far away....Even ten years later we gathered in his memory, laugh with Nina, and remember So many amazing times when we were all together.

It is a tradition that I hope will continue until we are old and grey!