We are family

I have been blessed with an inordinate amount of good luck. It scares me sometimes. My Mom and Dad are still with us and continue to live in their own home about 30 minutes away from me. My only sister lives an hour away, my youngest brother and his family are 30 minutes up the road, and two of my brothers live right here in Hot Springs. More amazing than anything....we get along. I don't mean it's a constant love fest. After all, we're brothers and sisters. But in the grand scheme of things it is good.

I'm surprised by the number of people I meet who have no contact with siblings or parents. It's natural to experience irritations and disappointments from family members but that's no reason to shut them out. If anything, the opposite should be true. All people are flawed but when those people share the same DNA allowances have to be made. The five of us don't agree on everything but that's beside the point. We shared the same womb and we're stuck with each other. No one else can make that claim. That fact alone makes us unique in the universe.

While I might have entertained a few fantasies about being an only child when I was little, I wouldn't trade one of my siblings. Our ages span 20 years so our parents accumulated the wisdom of the ages. They were and still are, a cool headed and united pair. They raised us as a team and taught us to look out for one another. We're still doing it and I expect we always will.