None of then has ever been in jail or on drugs. Some of them do drink a little, but not enough to get themselves arrested. The best thing about my family is how willing we all are to help each other out when needed. Let's take tomorrow for example my niece in law is going to spend most of her day off taking me to do things tomorrow. I have 2 doctor appointments and I need to get groceries, and she is going to take me to do it all. When I had to go to the hospital one morning from a bad allergic reaction my sister and her husband took me, but my nephew and my niece in law showed up at the hospital before they went to work to make sure I was ok. Not many will make a special trip to check on someone before work. My brother is another one who will look out for me he was at the hospital with me till 3 am one morning and he had to be at work at 6 he stayed after they put me in my room cause he knew I was scared. My family do many more things for me then I can ever do for them, but I help out where I can. My brother once needed some things made for work and I am good with a computer so I did them for him. When my sister needed her flower beds weeded I did them for her because they had poison in them. She is allergic to it I am not. When my nephew needed help with the garage they were building I went and helped him. A couple years later his mom was there for me when I fell and sprained both ankles bad she stopped what she was doing and drove 15 miles to my house to take me to the hospital.
It is great to have family that cares about each other. It makes me want to cry when I see families who fight with each other and I mean real fights where they do not talk to each other not just the arguments every family has some times. I know some families who never see each other by choice not by distance. Every Christmas my family all gathers for a day together. Some of us live far from others but we all make it home for the gathering. The only exceptions have been when someone was ill or if they had to work. My mom started it decades ago when my oldest brother first got married and moved out, and we have kept it up over the years even past our parents deaths. It helps to keep our family ties tight. I really feel sorry for someone who is estranged from their family and has to face the world all alone. The world can be a cold mean scary place if you have to face it alone.
Mother's day is coming up soon and everyone should remember their mom on mother's day. That is all I can do is remember my mom she died in 1989. I urge all of you who still have your mothers to call them, go see them, or send them something on mothers day so they know you still love them and that your family ties are still strong, because without mothers there would be no families.
And before I get comments about families that do not have mothers, I would like to point out that some families may not have mothers NOW, but if there had been no mother there would have been no baby born and thus no families. I am very aware there are many one parent families, and many unconventional families with 2 mothers or 2 fathers in today's world. These family ties can be just as strong as the original style of family. I have a friend who was once married and had 3 handsome boys. She got married to a woman a couple years ago who also has a son of her own. Their family is not what is thought of as conventional, but there is so much love in that family that their family ties are very strong.
In closing I would like to suggest to you all that you do what ever you can to make and keep your family ties strong, because when a family member dies the chance to be close to them again is lost for ever. I know that only too well. For many years my older brother and I were not close at all. I had tried to get closer for years but he did not meet me there. Then he had his heart attack and he changed. He himself reached out to me and I went to him. We spent 3 nice holidays together before my brother died of cancer that following year. I often think about the lost years and what might have been if he had lived on. The last holiday we spent together before his death was Easter. I was emotional as I often get when holidays role around, and my brother who was at that time fighting the cancer put his arm around me and hugged me when I was crying. For the first time in about 40 years I actually felt like I had my big brother back. When I was a little girl he used to protect me. He would stand between me and the wind at the bus stop my first year to school so i did not get cold. He used his body as a wind break for me. He would carry me through the deep snow we used to get around our house in the mountains. When an older boy picked on me he went to the boys house and warned him what would happen if he did not leave me alone. He used to be my hero, but he disappointed me and came crashing off the pedestal I had him on. I tried many times to forgive him over the years, but he would do something else that would hurt my feelings and dig the old scars open. When he made the effort to fix things between him and I, I was not sure it would work but I wanted to try. I just wonder if he had lived how close we would be now. So if you have a relative you were once close to and are not now you should try to fix the relationship while there is still time, because when they are gone it is too late.
