Families

Last night I went with my parents to a funeral home for a visitation of a family that has been friends of my family for many, many years. The man who had died was married, had 5 children, some grandchildren and great grandchildren. I hadn't seen any of the family members for many, many years. When I read the obituary in the newspaper I knew that I needed to go to the visitation. It was a real eye opener for me and I have thought about their entire family all day. I never knew that this family had so many issues. One of the sons wants nothing to do with his parents and he didn't attend the visitation and had no intention of attending the funeral today. Two of the other sons and their daughter have very little to do with their parents and one of the sons told me he hadn't seen his sister in over 10 years. I just can not imagine a life like that. I still have both of my parents and one grandmother. I am the oldest of five children, all but one of us is married, we all have children and two of us have grandchildren. Lots of people tell me that I am very lucky to have such a close knit family and after last night I am seeing that in a different light. We certainly aren't The Waltons, we do have issues at times although in the whole scheme of things they are very small. And I am sure the Waltons had their problems too. I am so thankful for my family and I thank God every day for them.