44 "There, I did It" - (About family)

“There, I did it, I sent letters to each of my three children.”

That’s what I proudly said to myself a couple of years ago, after putting it off for so long. I kept telling myself I should do it and I finally did it. I had written the letters in hopes of getting them all together for some sort of a family reunion. For some reason the whole family had drifted apart with everyone having differences.

My oldest daughter is the only one that I have been close to for the last several years.

I have to say that I am very proud of her and what she has done with her life. She did deal with her teen pregnancy, finished school and put herself through school to be a registered dental assistant, which is what she has always worked. She raised her son and she is now putting herself through school for the college degrees she needs to become a teacher for special children.

My second daughter, with whom I had lost contact with for about 12 or 13 years, has 4 children. 1 boy, 2 girls and 1 boy, in that order.

I am also very proud of her. She was married to one man with whom she had the 4 children. She was married to him until he took his own life when something from his past, before they married, raised it’s ugly head and threatened to ruin his life. My daughter and I lost contact before that even happened, for what reasons I’m not sure.

When we did get back in touch, I found one 20 year old grandson with a daughter of his own. An 18 year old granddaughter, going to college, with a son of her own. A 14 year old granddaughter that sings in a band that does gigs for money to fight drugs. And an 12 year old grandson. My daughter had raised these kids basically on her own for about the last 11 years.

I found that my daughter had received her BA for training medical students at Platt College. She is now going for her MA and is in management at the college now.

Now, we come to my son. I’m not really sure what happened between him and I, but my understanding is that it had to do with when his first son was born.

I’m not making excuses, but the night his son was born it was pouring rain and the only transportation I had was a motorcycle with at least 15 miles of freeway between us. For whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry I wasn’t there, but that could be a reason I’m here today. Then by the time it stopped raining enough, the mother and baby had been released and staying at the house of my ex, and we weren’t getting along.

I have seen him and talked to him a few times, mostly just hellos, at the soccer games of my oldest daughter’s son and those were for short times and the last time for that was about 9 or 10 years ago.

The sad part is that we all live within a 1 hour drive from each other.

Anyway, back to my son. I am very proud of him also. He has managed to raise a family of 1 girl and 2 boys and is still happily married to the same woman he married out of high school. His daughter is married to a Marine and they have a daughter too.

My son, from what I understand is an excellent diesel mechanic. And even though we haven’t gotten back together, I am very proud of the husband, father and man he has become.

And now that you know a little about my kids and the background for the reason I had written the letter about 2 years ago, I will get back to the story that I started.

I had written the letters telling my 3 adult children that no matter what their differences, I would like to at least one time before I die, see them all together. I did this in hopes for a bit of a family reunion.

I was sitting alone watching TV this morning when I heard a knock on the door. I asked who was there and got no answer. I rose from my chair and walked o the door. I noticed that someone had slid and envelope under the door. As I picked up the envelope, I noticed what seemed to be a slight glow. The glow had to be my imagination. I opened the door to see if I could see who left the envelope. There was no one around anywhere.

I closed the door and opened the envelope. Inside the envelope, that still seemed to glow, was an invitation. It read;

Mr. Greg Schweizer, you are invited to the family reunion at the house of Bill and Belinda Schweizer on January 10, 2012 at 12:00 noon. After I read this it had me so excited that I almost killed myself getting ready and rushing over there.

When I arrived the front door was open so I walked inside. I didn’t see anyone but I could hear voices. I walked through the house to find that there were a lot of people in the back yard. I walked over to the sliding glass doors and stood there for a few moments. I was so happy because I saw all 3 of my children, all 8 of my grandchildren and all 6 of my great-grandchildren. All in one place at one time, just like I had asked for. I was getting teary-eyed so I decided to get some Kleenex for my nose and my eyes before I walked outside. When I turned around that’s when I saw it there on the dining room table. There were flowers, a picture of me and a plaque that read;

“In loving memory of our father, Greg Schweizer, May 8, 1947 to January 8, 2012.”