My thoughts today included thoughts of my parents. They have been dead for over 25 years and my son never got to know them. I was sad about that as he has very little knowledge of them. I don’t talk or think about them or my childhood very much as I was mostly unhappy. While they probably did the best they could, I left at 19 and moved on with my life. Germany was my home for a few years so going to visit was not very easy. After Germany I moved to the Pacific Northwest and only went to visit two or three times and for the funerals.

My sister who was 4 years older also left early and moved away as well. She died in her early 60’s and we were not very close. As she died a horrible death, I did not go to see her as I wanted to remember her in her better days. She had a blood disorder that destroyed her face and neck.

My brother who is 9 years younger than me is still alive and well, but we have always been like different family as the age gap is quite large. He was raised as an only child and everything is always about him.

I have always wondered how some family’s can stay in the same town they were born in and be best friends for life. Maybe I am wondering what it would have been like if I had stayed in my home town. But then I remember things like bugs, snakes, hurricanes and humidity, and know why I left ( I did not like the people of most of the South). But sometimes I wonder….