Monday, July 1, 2024

Within the span of a week, I celebrated my granddaughter’s and my son’s birthdays. It all was so beautiful, watching the entire family enjoying each other, loving each other, and the beauty of it all brought me to silent tears. It’s not as if though this doesn’t happen everyday, with millions of families celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and graduations and weddings and baptisms; it happens everyday! So why was it special? Because it happened to me—to see generations that came from me and my ex; to see them happy and healthy and prospering. What else can one ask for? It all is a thing of beauty.

When you are a kid, you picture all the different scenarios that are going to be there, in your future. Will you be like your parents, or your siblings? You might not be able to see yourself as a father or mother, and, if you have that foresight, you wonder whether you will be as good as your parents, or maybe even better?

I, like many of us, sometimes take life and family and love and friends for granted. Maybe it’s human nature, or just me, but you start believing that there are no curve balls coming your way, all smooth sailing. And so, you go through life, expecting the best and mostly unprepared for the unexpected that life invariably throws your way. Unimaginable roadblocks that can make you question your choices, your judgement, your ability to fully appreciate and understand that you are just a cog in the circle of something much larger than you. You are not the family, just a part of it!

I live alone, and I miss my family. I never seem to be satisfied when I leave them; it’s as though there isn’t enough time to show your love and appreciation of them. To hear your grandchildren tell you that they love you; to look at your children and know that they do. I want my kids to be young again and to take them to the movies, to take them to a baseball or basketball game, to open gifts late on Christmas Eve! To get report cards and watch them build friendships that last forever.

I guess that I am a romantic; I guess sometimes I feel guilty for the times that I didn’t give them all of me. I have come to realize how important family is, how incomplete one is without the love and support of one’s family.

I look at my children; I’m very proud of all of them, their families, their accomplishments, their compassion and love for each other and for life! I miss them, especially all the wasted moments I could’ve, and didn’t spend with them. I worry about them, even though they are building their own lives, in their own way.

So, make sure you let your family understand how important they are to you. That you are nothing without them, that you are all part of that cog that will bind you together forever, forever!

Glen