My Corner, Your Corner: ‘You don’t know what you got until it’s gone’

After a week of being home from Colorado, I’ve had time to reflect on three quick days with my family and my disastrous flight home.

We, too often, take family for granted and believe no matter how close or far away, they will always be there. For the most part, that is true, but when family members live in other states, that becomes challenging.

After seeing my family on my dad’s side together for the most part with just a few missing, a line from a Joni Mitchell song came to mind, “You don’t know what you got until it’s gone.”

Is there someone in your life that you may not see for a long time and when you see them again, you then realize how much you’ve missed them when you see them again?

That was my feeling for 72-hours in Colorado.

It was so great to see the Callaio side of my family again and even though 72-hours was sweet and hold me over for a period of time, it wasn’t enough. Maybe part of that is because as I get older, I appreciate more and more of so many things.

I believe being a cancer survivor is another reason why I appreciate more things in life, especially family.

Another reason why I enjoyed being with family is the fact my niece and nephews are adults with their own families and I get to sit back and see their children grow.

I had a lot of fun with my great nieces and nephew and they are such cool kids. All three are close to or about the age of eight and because of that, it’s almost like I’m a complete stranger.

After the initial awkwardness of seeing each other again, then the hijinks began, you know, when kids start jumping all over you like you’re a bumper car.

For as much fun as it was, I realized I was no long the cool uncle; instead I was the great uncle. The cool uncle roll went to their Uncle Nick. They were all over him like a cheap suit.

Nick made a fort with them out of chairs and blankets, he took them to the local park, and they clung on to him as if he was eight-years-old.

I guess in a sense, it was a passing of the coolness baton from myself to the next generation.

At times, this getting older business is not a pill easy to swallow, but what choice do we have? It’s life.

So over the three days, we laughed a lot, got philosophical at times, even though that’s not my style, and we reflected on our own lives and our childhood. We had a chance to tell stories about our parents and it was comforting and pleasing. I admit, it was even sad too.

It’s funny how we all perceive life, especially when it comes to what we all remember about one or more episodes of our youth.

For example, my brother, who is four and a half years older than me, remembered an incident regarding me. He told the story as if it happened just yesterday. He gave details of everything that happened that particular day.

As I sat there listening to him recall detail after detail, I was mentally scratching my head because not only don’t I remember what he was speaking of, I had a different version that happened at a different time that sort of resembled what he was speaking of.

The brain is fascinating and total recall is a curious animal, especially regarding an incident where more than one person was a witness. If you have five different people at an event, you may have five different stories on how things went down.

The most famous controversy of recall comes from the super group, Crosby, Stills & Nash. All three have a different story on the first time they sang for the first time together. When you hear all three stories, you get totally convinced each story is true.

I’ve seen interviews with all three at different times and they swear on a Bible that their story is the correct version. The guys almost come to blows when they are sitting together telling the story it’s quite amusing.

Our Colorado visit was the first time we all got together since my mom passed away in 2016 with the exception of my two daughters missing this time around.

My sister’s son is getting married in 2025 and if we all stay intact, the next opportunity for all of us to reunite will take place in the fall of next year. I feel it is like the anticipation of the next total eclipse of the sun, there’s no consistency and it will happen when it happens.

My nephew Christopher suggested we get together more often, which I agree. Some families meet at the same place each year and some have destination gatherings. What does your family do?

It just might be a good idea to find a nice destination, maybe somewhere conveniently located, to gather.

The end of the trip was a bummer saying good-bye to everyone and the flight home didn’t make it any better. The flight was delayed 10-hours leaving Denver at 3:45 a.m.

It was a bad ending to a great weekend but it didn’t tarnish the memory.

Quote of the Week

“The most important thing in the world is family and love.” – John Wooden

Thought of the Week

“In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Bumper Sticker

“Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.” – Unknown author