Recently at Thanksgiving giving dinner at my daughter’s house I looked around this table and there were 22 of us. It’s rare that we are all together at one time. That is what makes Thanksgiving so special to me.

A renaissance is defined as a rebirth from a stagnant period in history. Like Europe’s renaissance which began in the14th century, the Millner family renaissance is about to begin in the 21st century. The size of our family has not changed for a long time but that is about to change in a big way. Over the next decade, there will be an explosion of new family members through marriage and new offspring that will be unprecedented, that will not be duplicated for a long long time. Maybe this is a common occurrence in families when the grandchildren move into their fifties and sixties. I don’t know. Have you seen that happening in your family?

Now the only way the Millner renaissance can be a positive piece of history is if the older generation has set the family up for success. This is a tough one because all families have disfunction in some way or another. The degree of disfunction varies greatly. As I looked round the room at the amazing children and their significant others it just took my breath away. I guess we did something a little bit right, out maybe we were just lucky. They are all unique individuals, but they share some qualities that make them extraordinary people. The kindness, compassion, and love that you show for each other and the others that they touch on a daily basis is truly inspiring. Hopefully, they can become the “Millner’s 2.0”.

However, I would like to give some advice to the peers of my kids who read this post. We can all use this advice but it’s harder to change older people’s minds since they are already so set in their ways.

Here it is: Over the next decade there will be tremendous changes in your lives. With change comes anxiety. When you are going through those trying times just remember to be true to your heart, and think about all of the things that you have to be thankful for. Just don’t get bogged down on the little things and don’t waste any energy on the things that are out of your control. Always be aware of the big picture. If you do that everything will be ok.