Including the aging parent/grandparent ~ Families are forever!

I recently took this beautiful, nurturing and love filled photo of one of my daughter-in-laws and her little one and wanted to share it here (with her permission) to just say a big, “Thank you”... to know that my grandchildren are so blessed with good and loving parents.  They are growing up so well and being taught how to love, be happy, play and are learning so many good things. 

I get to do aftercare with my grandchildren sometimes and consider it a huge privilege and blessing to spend time with them and to enjoy their sweet loving hugs and hear their giggles and the hilariously funny things they say sometimes, and to just be and feel included in their lives and to feel a part of my family which sadly doesn't always happen for some grandparents who are often "left out". 

It's the saddest thing ever to not be included in one's children's and grandchildren’s lives. I am grateful for the love that I feel from my family members... I do indeed see it as a privilege and blessing as I am going on to turn 60 at the end of this year.  

As a trained nurse and having once nursed in an old folks’ home, I have witnessed so much pain amongst many of the ages who are left out of their children's and grandchildren's lives. Even in my own life, in areas where I have been and felt "left out"... where I have felt rejected and not included and... “I don’t belong”... I have found the resulting pain in my heart almost completely unbearable. 

For the aged, the days without being loved and included in their families’ lives are excruciatingly long, lonely, emotionally pain filled days.

Having family and young people in my life, be they my own children, my grandchildren, nephews and nieces, or even church family and youth, helps me to feel alive, happy, loved and well. 

I pray that all my children and grandchildren will always be nearby and will always make the effort needed for me to feel and be a regular part of their lives.  

May I always know and believe in my families love for me, for without them, I literally cannot breathe!

Families are forever...

~ Pana