Receiving gifts and saying good-bye

I think Robiyah wrote about this recently - well, not this exactly but...

She realized that sometimes we have to do something (like this) for someone else even if it's really hard on you. If you don't, you will certainly have regrets later.

While this means something significant will take place in the future, you need to try to enjoy the present for everything it is and can be. Easier said than done. : (

You do what you can, if this makes them happy you try your best. Good luck!

Do all you can now. I certainly did learn that the hard way.

I would much rather live with being uncomfortable "now", rather than uncomfortable looking back for the rest of my life saying, "Man I sure wish I would have ... "

HAPPY TRIPLE POINTS TO YOU..SORRY NOT MORE PERSONAL IM BEHIND AND TRYING TO HELP EVERYONE,SO HERES 10 STARS TO YOU

The estrangement between parent and child happens more often than many allow themselves to admit to. My father was a very tall, thin man with snow white hair. The only time he didn't have it was when my first mom was still alive and she dyed it the appropriate black. Dad went to hell in a hand basket as they used to say back then for awhile after her death. He then met a lady closer in age to himself and married her a little over 2 years after the death of my mom. My dad was 16 years older than my first mom, and when she died @ age 41 an 8 year old little girl remained too. Dad loved, me but in a none verbal manner. He was gruff and sometimes downright mean. His childhood as I came to know about it (shortly before he reached his 80's) was not one of joy and happiness which I guess explains how in the 1920's grandmother divorced grandfather something that a Catholic just didn't do back then!
I digress...Dad and I drew close near the end of his life and the battle he waged against cancer. It was a valiant fight but one that did not see dad as the winner: as cancer ravished his body leaving him to look more like he lived in a concentration camp weighting 70 pounds on a 6'2" frame. The remarkable thing was his spirit, it soared. I would care for him and his needs and sometimes he became confused and called me "Berdie" my first moms name and then he would remember and correct himself. I remember the last Father's day, and knowing as I stood in the dime store… that the card I was to purchase was the LAST Fathers Day card I would ever be able to give him for the very rest of my life too. I wanted it to say so much more, to mean so much more, and to be so much more...but more escaped me. Somehow we both made it through that last one, and a couple other "last one's: like my birthday, seeing his grand daughter turn 16 but the last Fathers Day stays with me each year as it did 25 years ago…being the last one was the best one, because we had made it to that point that the more we (I ) had searched for in a card was the fact that Daddy loved me and had found his voice and the words were now spoken. I LOVE YOU DADDY…

I am holding on to the belief that they will see their great grandchildren, if they ever have any. My nieces and nephews are not too interested in children of their own right now.

One of the difficult things for me is that my parents don't like to see me in pain or struggling. Right now not a days goes by without the pain from injuries past. Most days it is just uncomfortable for me but others the pains interfere with me thinking clearly. I don't want them to see me this way. This is also the root of the difficulties with my siblings. Their apathy towards my pains was too much for me.

Thank you, Lainie. I know that it will not be easy.

Thank you, Ghostly Ghoul.

Thank you, Robiyah. I hope that you are finding some comfort. I have had a visitor in recent months. I don't know who or why but he has been watching over me.

Jill, Thank you so very much for your friendship through the years.

What Robin said :)

Is that the one that you're seeing out of the corner of your eye but when you look, they are gone? I know that I've had stuff like that happen since my grandfather died (wow 14 years ago). He used to come to me in my dreams and tell me he was alright also. I hope my Aunt Ruby does the same thing soon.

And soon enough you'll find out who it has been that has been watching over you. It's a wonderful feeling too.

Thank you, Shan.

That's exactly it, Robiyah. I have not been the only one to see him. But I am the only one that he follows away from the house.

Be thankful my friend you have this opportunity...my mom was priceless and I spent most of my life far way...I never had the chance to make that up before it was too late. I try now to stay in touch and annoy my dad enough so he knows how much I do care...

Thank you, Charles.

No one is ever ready to let go of their parents.

It is so much better to be on good terms with them when they pass than otherwise. I made sure I had no regrets with my mother, making sure that she knew how much I loved her and treasured her companionship. My father died suddenly, which robbed me of even the opportunity to say good bye.

Good luck. Wanting to do the right thing is half the battle.

Thank you, Ann. I am coming to grips with things.

Glad you are, Barney. It's not easy, but I think I'd do what makes them happiest for now.

Thank you, John. I am trying.