My sister, brother, and daughter have had enough of my opinions and have made the decision to have very little, if anything, to do with me. At first that bothered me because we were family but then I realized that they simply no longer wanted to tolerate my opinions because they did not agree with their views.
That is a hell of a reason to turn your back on family but that is what happened.
As for me... I have learned (these past few years) that the only person that really cares about me... is me... and, that there is not a damn thing that I can do about the behavior of others... all I can do is analyze and control my own behavior. My biggest teacher in that was my wife.
I once point in time, I was very controlling and had no idea what I was doing. When my family continued to control me, I realized what I had been doing to my wife. Now, the situation has reversed and she tries to control me. This causes us to butt heads, but I can easily see what she is doing now and what I had been doing. I try to roll with the punches and ignore her behavior. Most of the time that works.
I learned tolerance and patience from our three cats... not sure how that happened but these cats do not give a damn about my behavior with other humans as long as I don't yell at them and give them attention throughout the day. In exchange, they want to lay on the couch with me and offer their companionship, even though they are not totally away of what they are doing.
They do not see me as the old man in the valley. They do not see me as an opinionated asshole. They do not see me as someone who has no family or that many friends.
They do not see me as a retired veteran or as someone who is sick with cancer.
For them, I am their guardian and someone on which they can count from one day to the next.
Odd how my next best friend outside of my wife are my three cats.
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