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I come from a relatively small family unit with only one older sister and one younger brother. Even though my sister is the oldest, all family decisions now that our parents are dead, are made by my younger brother seemingly because he is the wealthiest therefore the smartest.
This was an easy decision to make because I did not want the job and my sister is tad scatter-brained and it is rather obvious that in some issues, her elevator does not stop at all the floors.
My father died in 2001 at the age 89 and my mother died in 2016 at the age of 95, just shy of her 96th birthday. While my dad was being treated for a Leukemia type disease, he died as a result of his organs giving out which was basically the same cause of death as my mother even though she had Lymphoma.
My daughter from my first marriage has made the decision not to have contact with me since 2018 which is about the same time that I fell out of favor with my brother and sister as well. More than likely, it was my fault for these three situations to occur, I just cannot remember what I did or did not do.
So, in 2024, the only family that I really have is my wife and her son from her first marriage and his better half - as the saying goes.
It seems rather odd that someone like me is writing about the importance of family when my family, in essence is nonexistent.
Just because I am estranged from my family, does not mean I don't understand the importance of family.
My wife's other family is different than mine in that she is really close with both her brother and her sister. They talk to each other at least once a week, or every other week and are constantly sharing all sorts of issues with each other that one would assume that family's share, like health and children, and what's been going on activities.
Both our families are in a different socioeconomic level, but I am not sure if that has anything to do with it or not... it might just be the way our parents raised us and all the different aspects of our environment to which we were exposed.
My wife and I have an acceptance or tolerance type of lifestyle and relationship... we know that we are different in our beliefs and lifestyle and try to accept each other for those differences - sometimes they clash, we clash, and there is tension but it soon disappears.
We have been together for 31 years so there has been a lot of give and take but one thing that we count on and that is that we are always there for each other no matter what is going on between us.
That is why families are important!
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