So there are ten people who call our house home. Our oldest has moved out on her own, and three of our other kids are in college…but this is where they all flock back to whenever possible. We’re a pretty close-knit family, although sometimes it’s hard to tell. We really do communicate all the time, but it’s different than the old days when communication was all by voice over the telephone. It’s even different than the 1990’s when instant messaging was all the rage. Now we mix our message through Skype, texting, comments on Facebook and Instagram, as well as the occasional tweet at each other…and of course, through e-mail.

We’re also an active bunch with all sorts of activities on our collective plates. Sports are a big part of our lives, as well as academics. And as I’ve said before, we’re competitive.

Blend all that together and you get an interesting familial dynamic. Most of the time, we’re all having good to great days. But with ten people in one family, there’s a likelihood that something is going South for somebody. Even if 90% of the family is having a great day, somebody is often having a bad day. And lately, some of the bad days have been REALLY BAD.

If you’re into numbers, run them and you’ll figure out that pretty much on any given day, one or more of us is in a funk. It’s just part of being in a big, active, involved, engaged, and competitive family.

Dont get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Actually, I’m kind of crowing about my family. You see, with all those bad days and all the interpersonal relationships that we have, when a bad day hits, we pull together like nobody’s business! In July we had a hail storm of epic proportions here in Hutchinson, KS. I mean hail 6-8” in diameter. Four cars out of commission. Windows broken all over the house. A skylight totally demolished and rain pouring in. Siding smashed to pieces, exposing the house to the continuing storm. And I was totally unable to help…the two boys and I were in Greesnboro, NC for the USATF Junior Olympics. I got a frantic call from my wife telling me that there was a massive storm going on, and then listing out all the kids and where they were. Pretty much no one was home. She begged me to get in touch with the kids and make sure they were OK. I made short work of that task and then waited for an update.

The Weather Channel did nothing to ease my concerns, as they were showing pictures of hail the likes I’d never seen. Then social media picked up and all those folks that I follow started posting photos of damage and hail. Completely helpless, I sat in our hotel in North Carolina and read about bad things happening all over our little town.

Eventually reports from home started to trickle in. One of my daughters had climbed on the roof and tarped over the hole where the skylight had been. Cars had been moved to safer places. Everyone was accounted for.

Over the next few days, we assessed damage, marvelled at how no one was hurt, and recounted the stories of where everyone had been and what they had done to avoid danger and help those in need.

It was a 100% BAD DAY, yet as a family we pulled together and pulled through. And a big reason why we pulled through is that we had each other to lean on.

In September, flooding started in Boulder, CO. One of my girls goes to school at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As is common for the majority of students there, she lives off campus in rented housing. This flood was also of epic proportions. Not a once-in-a-lifetime flood, but rather a once in a millenium kind of flood. Again I felt helpless, here in Kansas, while she had to deal with this natural disaster. But she got in contact with several of us, and we did what we could. Most importantly, we created a support network that was second to none.

While we’re still recovering from our hail storm and flooding, we did learn an important thing about our family. We are there for each other. We also learned that there are tons of folks who offered help. Friends offered a trailer to us if we needed to go move everything from the house in Boulder. A relative of a friend offered housing for as long as necessary. We had offers for all sorts of things.

At home we’ve been working with some contractors on fixing our mess. They’ve been great, and the folks who came to town for disaster relief were great too. While we pretty much didn’t take any of the disaster relief assistance, it was wonderful to know that it was there if we needed it.

But most of all, we discovered how great it is to have somebody that knows and loves you unconditionally to lean on when the going is rough. As you can imagine, from all our competitions, we’re a tough bunch. We’re typical Midwesterners, so we don’t really ask for help all that much. We’re working on it, but I don’t think we’ll ever be comfortable getting help from folks we don’t know, or even from folks we know well. We’re just a do-it-yourself group.

But we’ve got all these great people who are invested in each other. We can stand on each other’s shoulders when the going is rough, knowing that sometimes we’re being lifted up, and sometimes we’re doing the heavy lifting.

So, while somebody is always having a bad day in the Page Clan, there are usually a bunch of people who are there to help work through the situation.

In your life, who do you lift up, and who lifts you up? Bad days come and go, but family and close friends are there for the long haul!