Family Matters & Motivation

I started my life as the third youngest in a family of three.

Not three kids, 3 total people.

There was my Dad from New England who met my Mom from Chicago, when he was in the Navy, and they married and ended up in New Jersey, where I was born.

We moved to Wisconsin, where I later learned my folks almost split up, but instead we moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana where I grew up from age 6 to 18.

That was the family dynamic, just the three of us.

When I married for the first time, it added more family and I began to see the relationships between siblings both in the relationship between my wife and her sister, and when we had our three kids, I saw a bond develop between Rachael, Josh and Tiff that I never experienced since I had no siblings.

And although that first marriage ended after 13 years, and both my first wife and I have remarried, we work at working together.

I mean, nearly everyone works at working together. My first wife Karen and her husband Steve; my wife Kathy and her ex-husband Dwight; I get along with all of them. And it sometimes is easy, other times it takes more work.

My parents remained married until death. So did Karen's parents and Kathy's parents. Yet all three of us are on our second marriage and so this is a different experience than what our folks went through.

What I can tell you is that I know that I am blessed to be married to Kathy and we desire to be husband and wife until death.

As "2nd time arounders", we knew when we committed to each other that there were going to be changes in our lives that we would not be able to foresee. Yet we knew that as long as we were committed to each other and our relationship, we could finish this relationship until death takes one of us away.

Together we have added more members to our families. Kathy is one of 7 and has 2 children to add to my 3 children. Toss in boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives and the family will continue to grow. (Grandkids too!).

This weekend I urge anyone that I'm related to, (or not related to!), to step outside of your comfort zone for the sake of others.

If there is any forgiving that needs to be done, Forgive.

If there is a phone call that needs to be made, Call.

If there is a visit that needs to be made, Do it.

Why now?

Because one day it will be too late.
And you never know for sure when "too late" will come.

Let me close with this final story. It's a story about the other two members of my original family.

10 years ago, my father spent the last week of his life in a hospice home.
The last day my Mom saw him was Mothers Day, 1998.
The next day he passed away.
We were fortunate to have made sure all was in order.

Three years later, I discovered my Mom on Thanksgiving Day had died the night before.
This was totally unexpected.

One way or another, you will go through one of these two experiences with your friends and family.
I hope you have no regrets when this occurs.

Get Motivated Now, because Family Matters.