Just Simply Holly

Good morning everyone!  TGIF!  The days are getting colder and going faster which means Christmas will be here before we know it!

This time of year is sometimes difficult for me.  Twenty-eight years ago next month I lost my father to cancer.  Although it’s been a very long time, it is still sometimes difficult to think about the fact that I will never see his face or hear his voice and that he never got the chance to see any of his grandchildren.

I received a phone call from my sister a little while ago.  She wanted to let me know that our brothers wifes brother was rushed to the hospital and that things don’t look very good.  This is a young man that is just a year younger than I am, but has had a VERY hard life!  At the age of 20 his older brother and best friend committed suicide, and he never really recovered from it.  He has spent the last 20 years battling drug and alcohol problems and has spent most of that time homeless and living on the street.  He was a brilliant young man who had a heck of a future before him before losing his brother.

Because of the life that he lived, it was very rare that family members would see him, and when they did it usually wasn’t a very pleasant experience.  His mother and step father banned him from their home because of several incidents where he stole from them to support his habits.  But through it all, his sister (my brothers wife) never turned her back on him.  She would go to him any time he called and help him as he would allow her to.  She has been by his side since she found out he was admitted to the hospital and is having a very difficult time with the thought that she could very well lose him.  From what I understand, she feels that somehow she should have been able to help him and prevent him from living such a difficult life.

I hope to be able to go and visit him in the hospital later tonight.  I haven’t seen him in many years and would like the chance to see him again in case the doctors are correct in their diagnosis that he doesn’t have much time left on this earth.

My message to you, my readers, is this.  Sometimes the people that we love don’t make the best choices for their lives, and sometimes it is necessary to distance ourselves from the people we love the most.  Even if we have to distance ourselves from someone we love, it doesn’t mean we have to stop loving them and caring about them.  It just means that we have to give them a little bit of tough love in the hope that it will help them realize how much the choices they make are affecting their lives and ours.  Don’t give up on someone you love, keep them in your thoughts and prayers and let them know that although you may not love the choices that they are making for their life, you do still love them as a person.  I think this young man has spent most of his adult life feeling unloved and unwanted because of the bad choices that he has made.

Anyway, I need to get ready for work.  Thank you for listening!  Make sure you take the time to let the people you love and care about know how much they mean to you!