Its Good to have Family

Families are important. It seems like the older you get the more family is important. I have just experience family love and reconnecting with Sharon’s surgery at Cleveland Clinic. It had been 35 year since I was in Cleveland. I was busy working and dealing with life in general. I knew we had family there, but Sharon was more connected to family than I was. I am used to keeping to myself, a very quiet private person/ When the opportunity came and I was asked by my dad to go with Sharon to Cleveland for her surgery,; I did what all of us oldest children do, we step in and do what is needed. It was refreshing to see the love and support we received from aunts and all of the cousins on both sides of the family.

The Aunts

When you come from a big family like my mom did, it is not unusual if you are one of the older siblings to have sisters and brothers the same age as your own children. That is the case with me and Pam. I was born in January and she was born in September. Now she looks a lot like my mother. She came to drive us to Cleveland. When we stopped to eat, I was sitting across from her and it was uncanny how much she looked like my mother, when my mom was our age. She drives a van for the disable in Cleveland, taking them to doctor’s appointments, school and work We were able to visit her home and she gav4e us a tour of Cleveland. She has three children and six grandchildren. She and her husband Reggie are doing well. It’s hard to imagine Pam as a grandmother.

Aunt Corrine is six years younger than my mother. She is 74 now. She and Uncle Bobby have been married for fifty years. She is a military wife. Uncle Bobby is a Vietnam era vet. They have lived everywhere, including overseas in Germany. They have live in University Heights for forty years and have three kids, grandkids and great grandkids. It’s amazing how the family has grown. She stayed with me while Sharon was in surgery and took me out to dinner on night. I listened to the things she talked about. She is a very interesting person.

Mildred is a little younger than Aunt Corrine, but I’m not sure by how many years. She celebrated a birthday while we were in Cleveland. She lives here in Mabscott, but she wanted to come with us to Cleveland, to be emotional support to us and see her sister. Mildred stayed with Sharon after I had to leave. Mildred has a daughter, three grandkids and one great grandson.

The Cousins

Sharon’s daughter says she meets a new cousin every week. It seems that way. We have lots of cousins. We stayed with Pam’s son RJ, his real name is Clifford. He is a firefighter for the city of Cleveland. He and his wife really stepped up to make us feel at home and welcome. They have a four year old daughter. His take on helping us was “Y’all are family”. The first morning we were there, his wife fixed a breakfast that was better than anything you would find at Shoney’s breakfast bar. I asked her if she was from the south, and she said she took care of her grandmother, so she was used to what we would call “southern hospitality”. We had made plans to stay at a hotel, I know people work and I didn’t want to be any trouble going back and forth to the hospital, but they made us feel so welcome that I ended up staying there.  I am glad; I would have been too lonesome at the hotel. I was nervous and scared for Sharon. At a time like this you are flooded with memories growing up, and praying that everything is going OK.

Katheryn we call her Diane, she is the same age as Sharon. She is Aunt Corrine’s oldest daughter she drove us some too. She went to get Sharon’s prescriptions after she was discharged. She dropped Mildred and Aunt Corrine off at the hospital, came to visit Sharon. She recently celebrated thirty years at her job.  She has three kids I think, some of this is hard to keep up with; and grandkids. I didn’t get to see Barbara, we call her Netto; she is busy with her kids and grandkids. The youngest of Aunt Corrine’s kids’ is Dee Dee; she lives in North Carolina; very active in church and a prayer warrior.

When my dad was growing up, he was raised by his grandmother until he was seventeen. His cousin Johnny and he were raised like brothers. When they were seventeen, they got into a fight and the grandmother tried to break it up. When she couldn’t get them to stop fighting, she took a chair and hit them with it. Then she told my dad, since his mother lived close he had to go stay with her. Aunt Corrine says she remembers seeing him going past their house with his clothes in a bag crying. Anyway Johnny moved to Cleveland, got married and had six kids. Over the years we have been in touch with them. We visited them on occasions. When Sharon went up for her pre=op the first time, she connected with Tammy, the youngest of Johnny’s kids, then Maria the oldest one called my dad and got in touch with me. They took Sharon out to dinner. When Sharon was in the hospital Maria and her sister Marilyn came to the hospital. It was interesting to hear about the paths that their lives have taken. It was also good to see them again, exchange phone numbers and keep in touch.

All I can say is; we come from a strong and interesting family. I am kind of quiet and usually keep to myself; but it was good to have family come to our aid. As we grow older you learn what is important, and what is temporary. During the time we were there in Cleveland the eight anniversary of my mother’s passing happened and I was glad that I had family around.