When I was a kid I hated when the adults said the word “tradition”. To me it meant junk we had to do because we had always done it. We always had to follow what we had done for years, the same meal the same games, everything the same, Ugh! Whenever you suggested a change the answer was always the same “tradition”. (Right now fiddler on the roof is playing in my head)  It always bugged me that they didn’t want anything to change, so year after year we did the same boring things. Now that I am older I can’t help but look at those traditions a little differently. Those traditions have gone from obligations to remembrances, not just memories of the things but of the people who lead those traditions and are no longer with us. The uncle who told me really bad puns and jokes every year, the cousin who led us in a game. The reason I like the traditions now is not the traditions themselves but the people who they remind me of, both those who are not with us anymore and those who I will not be able to be with.