So last night I told my oldest sister not to contact me anymore

[cherokeeprogressive]

50. Being called moneychanger and a baby killer aren't the same as unquestioning support of politicians.

Everyone has their own circumstance I guess. A response down thread by pipi_k brought home my thoughts about such trivial stuff:

I lost my Favorite Uncle, my Mom's younger Brother on Dec 29th which ironically is my Dad's birthday. At his memorial, his Brother Sonny, also a younger Brother of my Mom, stood up and said a few words.

My Uncle Don was a Vietnam Vet who suffered from PTSD and alcoholism. He actually lived under an overpass in Orange County, CA for a while. None of us knew where he was or where to find him. He surfaced again in the early '90s and went back home to his estranged Wife and Daughters. He fell off the wagon many times but never lost his family's support and in the end was sober for about the last 5 years of his life, but I digress...

Sonny didn't have much to do with the family after coming home from the Army. He was stationed in Seoul and came home with a Korean Wife. She thought and still thinks we're low class. Don't ask me why. She also thought my Uncle Don was weak, and refused to allow contact between the two even though they lived 15 miles apart, fished at the same lakes, hunted in the same hills, and even knew some of the same people. Don went to the VA Hospital on Christmas Day for a stomach ache he couldn't shake and died 4 days later. Sonny didn't make it to the hospital before he passed.

So there's my Uncle Sonny, standing in front of us with both hands on the podium as if he needed physical support. When he got to the point of saying he wished they'd had more contact over the last 20 years or so he completely broke down and started talking to Don's picture rather than us and talking about how they stood back to back as young boys when one or the other got into it with the other local kids. It was one of the saddest moments of my life.

I think I must have hugged my only Sister (only sibling actually) 50 times after that and before the day was over, and each time we knew what the other was thinking: Nothing will keep me away from you and I'm comfortable in the knowledge that you're always going to be there for me.