I know a woman who recently lost her 39-year-old son to cancer. The really sad part of the story is that she hadn’t spoken with her son in over a year and was entirely shocked by the news of his death. This story evokes two feelings in me. One is compassion for the woman; the other is gratitude for the family that I am privileged to be a part of.
I have two brothers and a sister, and while we don’t always agree on everything, we value the bonds of family and interact with each other with respect and love. Together we’ve made the decision to take our father off a respirator, determined the treatment and care of our mother as she progressed through the stages of Alzheimer’s disease, emptied the contents of one house and two condos and shared the ownership of a family cottage. We’ve buried our parents and disbursed their estates with barely a squabble about how things should be done and who gets what.
This mutual respect and love we enjoy comes from our parents, who always strongly valued family and instilled in us the importance of remembering and honouring your roots. I’m thrilled to see that these values are finding their way to the next generation. Recently, we had a family dinner – just the four siblings, their spouses and their kids. Several of my nephews and nieces were excited to get together and, as you can see from the photo above, they had a great time together.
I realize that I’m very fortunate to have such a strong and united family. I don’t take it for granted and I cultivate it whenever I can.
I have two brothers and a sister, and while we don’t always agree on everything, we value the bonds of family and interact with each other with respect and love. Together we’ve made the decision to take our father off a respirator, determined the treatment and care of our mother as she progressed through the stages of Alzheimer’s disease, emptied the contents of one house and two condos and shared the ownership of a family cottage. We’ve buried our parents and disbursed their estates with barely a squabble about how things should be done and who gets what.
This mutual respect and love we enjoy comes from our parents, who always strongly valued family and instilled in us the importance of remembering and honouring your roots. I’m thrilled to see that these values are finding their way to the next generation. Recently, we had a family dinner – just the four siblings, their spouses and their kids. Several of my nephews and nieces were excited to get together and, as you can see from the photo above, they had a great time together.
I realize that I’m very fortunate to have such a strong and united family. I don’t take it for granted and I cultivate it whenever I can.
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