Then there were six

A sister is soon to meet her demise. Kadizzle is one of nine kids.  Who knows what the parents were thinking, but they turned us out like a factory.  Sadly the first to go was my younger brother.  A heart attack suddenly and unexpectedly shot him down.  About two years ago another heart attack got number four.  The whole thing seems like a dice game.  When you hit this age you see the other leaves drop from the tree and you know you are on that tree and the wind will blow.

Nine kids sewn like seeds in the wind and into the world. Each of us went in a different direction. The tides of life pushed and pulled us into deep water and onto the beach.  The stories and adventures along with the tragedies, and the victories are all there.  All things considered there was a lot of success.  The gene pool mixed and churned and produced nine variations of uncles, aunts, grandparents, and generations back through history.

Nine people can make a lot of choices, and God knows we did.  We lived in California, West Virginia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Arizona. Mix us together and you were sure to get stories and laughter was a given.  Our parents did not live to see all the successes, and thank God they missed some of the failures.  One thing we all leaned two kids are plenty.  No one had more than two.  If you leaned nothing else you got a passing grade for realizing the folly of over production.  Often Kadizzle says to himself, what were they thinking.  Then he realizes since he was near the end of the line it was a good thing they were not thinking.

So one by one we will be picked off.  No one escapes.  All the money, all the prayers, and all the medicine cannot keep us going forever.  If there is one lesson be kind, enjoy, and be thankful.  In the end it is each other we will treasure.  Someone shaped us into who we are.  A lot of Kadizzle got shaped by eight other people that ate at the same table, surrounded the same Christmas tree, and shared the same home.  So here we are 2018.  How many more mile post will we make.  It is a time to reflect, and a time to watch the children, and the grandchildren flourish with joy.