family
Ah ….. family. You live with them, eat with them, love them, fight with them, compete with them, cheer for them, are frustrated with them and embarrassed for and by them. They are the blood in your veins and the stone in your shoe and it can take a lifetime to appreciate them!
I’ve often thought it a cruel irony that parents and kids are always a generation apart. You don’t really know what your parents are going through until you get to that stage of life. Likewise they can’t remember what it was like when they were your age, and even if they could the times have changed.
If familiarity breeds contempt and absence makes the heart grow fonder, then I guess that’s why my family is close. We’re scattered across the country. It takes money and vacation time for me to see anybody.
I’ve gone through periods where I didn’t appreciate my family. Thankfully God has reminded me of all the wonderful things my family has done for each other and the many ways we have helped and supported each other.
My family was never in the center of the bell curve, and may not have even found its way into that bell at all. We are/were a loud, unpredictable, unusual and a rather peculiar people. I’ve never met anyone like us. But – we love to love, we love to laugh and we want the better for each other. We are not competitive and we try to support each other in the ways that we can.
Ever since my father died in 1971 and my mother in 1992, we’ve been intentional about getting together periodically, and I thank God that we did. We lost my amazing and wonderful brother in 2017. I am eternally grateful for all of the time we spent together – for the trips, the visits, the reunions, my winter vacations in LA and Mexico, for all of the blessings he was in my life, and even for forcing me to start playing golf after 30 years. I will miss you until the day I day, and look forward to seeing you in your new home.
As I reflect on the Dorey family I am settled with the reality of who we were and who we are. We were NOT without our issues. We struggled, worried, wondered, tried, offended, succeeded, failed, attended, ignored and forgot regularly. However – after all is said and done . . . I think that we did family very well.
Family Links:
A Tribute to Lorraine Dorey (Mom)
http://www.gaildorey.com/2016/09/01/a-tribute-to-lorraine-dorey/
Fred Dorey (my brother) – A Life Well Lived
Uncle Bernie: A Family’s War Story
PDF DOWNLOAD