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I love my family.  Some of them I don’t see much anymore since they have moved away and started family’s of their own.   Times always change not only in the world but for families too.  As all the siblings grow up and move away from the nest it’s harder to find time to spend with that brother or sister you were always so close to growing up. That playmate you once had that you were inseparable from now has their family and you have yours. Children come along then grandchildren.  Suddenly you realize when everyone congregated at mama’s and daddy’s; now you’re the mama or daddy where your own family congregates.  When everyone once met at grandma and grandpa’s now suddenly you’re the grandma or grandpa everyone meets at. When we think of family we think of our mama, daddy, grandma, grandpa, brother or sister or son and daughter. 

Many of us have other members that we call family that most other people never get to see or meet unless they came to our house; that’s our four legged family members.  They are always staying at home waiting for mama or daddy to come home.

 If you love them they know it and are happy to see you when you get home.  Our dogs would bounce up and down and spin around in a circle with their mouth open and tongue hanging out as though they are smiling at us when we come home. They’ll bark at us wagging their tail as though they are telling us what they did during the day.  They learn some of our vocabulary.  Ours gets all excited when we ask the question in one word “Ride?” because they know what it means and it’s a special treat for them.  

 And when one of those special family members passes away it is just like losing anyone else in the family.  There is a void, an emptiness that can never be filled.   Eventually you may get another…I don’t like to call them ‘pets’.  My wife and I both prefer to call ours ‘son’ or ‘daughter’.  They are family to us. Even though you will always get another there will always be that special place in your heart for that one special family member that is always happy to see you.  No matter how rich or poor you are.  No matter how beautiful or handsome you may or may not be.  All they see is happiness when you come home and the special moments you spend together.  Always treasure those times like you would any other family member.  ‘As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.’ Psalms 103:15,16. (KJV)