Thursday, January 14, 2016

January 14, 2016

Time With My Baby Sister
January 14, 2016


Here is my sister who is visiting, then me, Mom,
 and my brother, who looks so much like my dad.


The years fly by.  Some how we just wake up one day and we are 40, or 50, or as I will be in less than a month, 70!  How did that happen so quickly?  I tell people my age doesn't bother me, it the age of my children that bothers me.

Since my mom lives in the same town as I do, when my siblings come for a visit, they stay with Mom.  This time, Mom was running out of beds, so my youngest sister is spending a few nights at our house.  It has been a long time since that happened.

It was funny to sit tonight and discuss all the medical ailments we have inherited from our grandmothers.  I think we would rather inherit a fortune, but at least they left us something: arthritis, heart problems, weight problems, and on and on.  My sister is the thinnest of the bunch so I guess that came from our grandfathers who were tall and thin.

Both of our grandmothers were short and heavy.  I always thought my mom's mother looked like Mrs. Santa Clause.  She was very fair skinned and had a beautiful complexion.  The main difference my sister and I have with our grandmothers, is that we have very thick hair and both of our grandmothers would have been delighted to have as much hair as we have.

There are so many characteristics that each person gets genetically from their parents and grandparents.  Some are easily spotted and others we discover over the years.  My mom's father was great with math.  I took after him in that area.  He had a green thumb when it came to planting flowers in their yard.  I did not get that, but I think my sister did.  My dad's parents both worked in their large garden where they grew an abundance of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.  I wish I had learned more from them.

My original hearing loss came from my dad's mother I think.  She had so much trouble hearing and we would just about have to yell to get her to be able to hear us.  Now, I understand better what she was going through.  My Sudden Hearing Loss was just something that happens to some people and is not genetic. 

Some things that we get from our parents and grandparents are genetic and there is really nothing we can do about them.  Other things we learn from them over the years; they are not really genetic, but rather they are environmental or learned.  My grandmothers were both very good cooks.  They taught me some of the things they did well.  One grandfather loved classical music and particularly Handel's Messiah.  He would wait for it to come on the radio on Christmas Eve and would sit in front of the radio and direct it as though he was the maestro in front of the choir and the symphony.  I got that love for music, but have no ability to direct it.

Many things come naturally to us, some are taught, but some we must learn and do for ourselves.  Our relationship to God is one of those things that must be between the individual and God.  As I have heard it said, "God has no grandchildren."  Each person has to decide for themselves if they want to accept God's free gift of eternal life and become a child of God's.  That does not automatically make our children, God's grandchildren.  They must each decide for themselves what their relationship with God will be.  I am so thankful that I grew up in a home where my parents loved the Lord God.  They taught me about God and His love for me, but I had to make the decision on my own to accept His payment for my sins and His free gift of eternal life.

What will my children and grandchildren inherit from me genetically and through my teaching?  I hope that part of what they learn from my teaching is to love the Lord God with all their hearts.  I hope they learn to reach out to others who may be lonely or hurting.  And I hope when they are almost 70 years old, they will enjoy having an evening with their siblings where they share memories until well past midnight
My brother, Gordon, (the oldest), me, Linda, who is just over a year younger than Gordon, Mom, my sister Debbie who is about 7 years younger than I am and last our baby sister, Janet, who is about 10 years younger than I am.

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