It’s almost Thanksgiving, but I usually start out my day by listing everything in my life that I’m grateful for anyhow, but during holidays it reminds me of family and how dysfunctional mine actually are. I tend to remember back when we were young before life became so harsh after our parents died and often wonder how things might have been had they lived. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother left, but none of the sisters talk now and the sad part is we’re old.

I get along great with my brother however and see him often. At one time I was close to the middle sister and always took up for her because we were the most alike or at least I thought we were way back then. I’m not sure what happened to cause the separation, but it’s been like that for 20 years now. I thought when my oldest brother died a few years back that we were going to cross that bridge and become united again, but it didn’t happen.

I remember a lot of the fun times I had with my sister, of us giggling together and brushing each others hair, of sneaking my daddy’s cigarettes and smoking them, climbing trees and getting into trouble with Mama. It seems like what ever happened to me happened to Glenda, but worse. She was the only person with me when my baby was born and I was with her every day when she had uterine cancer and at one point I knew I could always count on her and she me.

She’s 3 years older than I am and when she became a teenager she had a really bad case of acne. I was lucky that I escaped that problem, I had the occasional pimple. She had acne so bad that she would try one acne treatment after another and nothing seemed to help her. Her face always looked so painful and I always felt sorry for her. People or rather kids were always saying ugly things to her and called her names which always ticked me off and I was always ready to fight for her.

I always wanted a close family because when it comes right down to living in this world family are the most important people because they’re the ones that know you and love you anyhow. I was reading a post that Patricia wrote over at Communication Exchange about communicating with your family during the holidays. Now that’s a great idea at any time, but sometimes it’s just not possible.

I consider myself very lucky though because Bill has a close family that I get to be a part of. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday with their family and friends.