A Family Reunited, What A Gift That Is

By King Harris
Last year at about this time, with the holidays ringing in my ears, and a desire to rejoin my estranged family of many years, I decided to embark on a journey to mend fences.
While my trek isn’t over yet, it looks as though at this point it will have been well worth the effort.
My immediate family includes my older sister Ann, younger brother James, and step sister Lynne. Our parents and step parents are all diseased, but they left behind the scar of a contentious divorce, one that divided the family and provided an atmosphere of mistrust, misunderstanding and miscommunication.
But those days are long gone, and today it no longer matters where to put the blame or where to stuff the resentment. We are all getting older, and time is running short for the opportunity for us to reunite and connect with each other.
So last year, when my long standing news radio gig at KVEC abruptly came to a halt, I knew I would have some time to not only heal myself but to reconcile the relationships with my family.
With my somewhat erratic lifestyle threatening my health, I figured I’d better change my ways and alter my outlook.
With support of my wife, Sara, and my brother James, whom I talk to but never see because he lives in Massachusetts, I eventually contacted my sister Ann, who has been living in Greece (I don’t know why) for the past several years.
After seven years of silence between us, we started communicating by way of the Internet (phone calls to Greece are exorbitant), and little by little, we started to fill in the blanks.
James took advantage of the situation, and wrote to various cousins, nieces, and nephews whom I hadn’t heard from in years. The response was overwhelming and positive, and reminded us all how important the family can be.
The best news of all, is that I just learned Ann is traveling to San Francisco for her 75th birthday and the holidays, which means we will meet up soon.
Lynne, who lives nearby, hopefully will be there, along with other family members. There’s a lot to catch up on, and I’m eagerly looking forward to it.
Just think, a year ago I had no family, but I got mine back. What a gift.