Family

The tears are flowing this morning. It just hit me that not only is my only son turning 20 tomorrow, but that he is also leaving home, again. He's in the Air Force and stationed in South Korea.  


I've been thinking a lot about the importance of family lately.  It all started on November 18th.  My husband and I were watching a movie, a comedy I think, when he got a phone call from his mother.  She told him that she had just learned that his father had died a week earlier, on Veteran's Day. (see my last homeless interview post).  Jack was a veteran and they hadn't spoken in at least 6 years.  


It was a sad time. Brought back memories of my own father, Charles Edward Hobbs. I had done an internet search for him a few years ago. It wasn't difficult to find him because I still had my commissary ID with his information on it. I found him, and found out he had died three years prior.  I last saw my father when I was 3.  


That night was emotional for me, thinking of our fathers and all the wonderful things they missed. Their children growing up, the grandchildren they never knew, and the relationships they could have had.  It also made me grateful that the father of my children is still in their lives and that my husband makes every effort to be extremely involved in his children's lives.  


My spirits picked up immensely when my son came home for Thanksgiving followed by my mother and grandmother.  I last saw my mother in June and my grandmother, who is 93, it had been greater than 5 years.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving/Christmas all wrapped into one.


No matter what has transpired in the past, no matter what your feelings are with your family - they are family. Love them, forgive them, communicate with them. It is so vitally important, family.  You never know when you may see them again.  Today may be the last day to say I love you. Don't let it slip away. 

I love my family.