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Family

What does family mean to you? For some of us, a family is a group of people connected by biology. However, as we grow older, shared DNA takes a back seat to shared experiences. The people we love may look like us, but it’s more common for them to be like us in temperament, beliefs, and the like. While families may not always agree with each other, they always disagree in love.

I’m sharing this with you because, yet again, I have lost a member of my biological family. This time, the Grim Reaper claimed my cousin, the child of my mother’s brother. He was 47-years-old – the same age as my mother’s sister when she passed away in 1986. I knew him, but I hadn’t actually seen him since I was 13.

I wish I could say I was hurt, but I can’t. Thanks to distance and indifference, we barely knew each other. Even though he and I share a grandmother, he and his brothers and sister didn’t bother to acknowledge Granny’s life or death. That hurt me more than this does.

Despite these feelings, I will attend his funeral. They may not acknowledge us, but we ARE family, and that's important to me -- especially at a time like this.

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