My Family

I have the best family in the world. My immediate family is the best as well as my extended family. How do I know? Because I have many friends and see many families and rarely see a family like mine. My mom has been in declining health for the past six or seven years. My sisters take better care of her than anyone can imagine. People are always saying how great it is that we do what we do for her but isn't that what everyone does? Jerryl, Joye, and Janny have definitely earned some jewels because they give up a part of their own lives to be with Mom. We don't think of it as giving up though because we get to spend that time with Mom, who by the way is fine mentally. She is smart and funny and knows what is going on in the world and has definite opinions. My father died when I was 6 years old. Many people have asked why didn't my mom remarry. The answer is, she gave all she had to us. She was very busy. We always had what we needed and now I am realizing we also had more than most people. We were loved. We had a huge extended family. My mom had 13 aunts and uncles that treated us like we were the best things ever. We were treated like grandchildren by them, which was good because I was 11 years old when my last grandparent passed away. Of course they are all gone now but the love they instilled in us still lives on. Then I had my own aunts and uncles. Most of them lived far away and we didn't see them too much. My Uncle Clair, however, was more like a brother than an uncle. After my dad died, he still came and spent weekends with us and played with us, scolded us, teased us, and loved us. We saw the others at family reunions. Everyone made a huge effort to come to those so we could spend time together. It was never enough time but it did bring us close together and it got us to know our cousins. I feel very sorry for the cousins that don't come because they are missing out on a family group that is so supporting and loving.
We just spent a day or so with my family as Uncle Maurice died and we got together to remember his life and celebrate his love for all of us. His kids and grandkids were all there. I hope that even as our aunts and uncles leave this world that the cousins will continue to get together and love each other. As I spent some time visiting with my cousins, I just thought about how I wish we could get together more. All of them are such nice people. They are easy to talk to and just are who they are. I think the evidence that this is not just me is in the fact that the in-laws are included just as much as the blood relatives. When my cousin's widow's husband said he was really working hard on learning who everyone in her family is, it struck me that yes, we are her family and now he is a part of that too. I am so lucky that my grandparents put the love for God and the love for family into our parents and I love seeing that go on down the line.