"People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's families. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own. "  Doug Coupland

The concept of family can bring warm emotional sentiment, either from past memories, associated with those we have loved that are no longer with us or our current loved ones that we look forward to spending time with.  Yet some are not so fortunate.  When you have family members that create difficulty, have “issues,” or make your life down-right miserable, those family members do exist too.  How about when you have to take care of those family members when illness strikes? That’s exciting. 

Illness is an interesting thing.  Families really show what they are made of.  Living in Southwest Florida for the past 19 years, I have had an interesting journey of awareness related to aging and family.

The majority of people I have met, who have retired to Florida do not seem to think that they can expect their children to help take care of them. There are some families who have adult children that get involved, and come to Florida to help manage an illness or elective surgery, like a hip or knee replacement.  But as a whole, our society seems to function on everyone “doing their own thing.” And this is what I have seen from families who get along.  When there are poor relationships between parents and children, the older folks (parents) really are on their own.

My point in sharing this thought is that only you know your history with your family relationships.  It is not too late to improve communication with your family members, especially with your children.  I think every family has their stories, good, bad and ugly.  Most children may remember certain times when they were growing up that there were family problems, and it is easy to allow those old memories to excuse your involvement with family members today.

The message here is that family ties are special opportunities.  You have the capability to nourish those relationships, and if you don’t keep in contact with your family members, you can’t expect your family members to always be the ones to work at keeping a relationship active with you.  Pick up the phone and call your sister!  Call your Mother or Father!  They won’t be here forever. 

Even if you don’t love your parents or siblings, you can still be kind. Learn to be Self-less in a Selfish world. You can start where you are.  

The only thing you owe your parents is to provide them with a safe environment as they age, and it doesn’t have to be in your home.

Let us hear from you through Contact Us.  How do your family members relate?  Is it healthy?  Join the www.Sallycares.com Community today!   

“Now, let’s get going” xo Sally