A Tale of Two Families

Two funerals, one day, two very different families and legacies.  (No names used, to protect their privacy.)

In the first, hundreds of extended family and friends showed up to be supportive of each other in their collective loss of someone too young to die of cancer.  Relations had not always been perfect, but past differences and phobias were forgotten, in the face of such a loss to her young children, husband, mother, brother, and many others.

In the second, a lifetime of vindictive feuding and estrangement could not be set aside or let go, even in the face of death.  A beloved grandmother and grandchild were forced apart and communications severed from a young age, because of some petty vendetta and dysfunction of the parents.  The ugly feud triumphed and outlived death.  Many family members, including great-grandchildren, suffer damage done by this legacy.

Human life at best is uncertain and fragile, and there is no time or excuse for prolonging mindless  hostility and division.  Break down walls while you still can.

 

 

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