"In time of test, family is best." (-Burmese Proverb)

My father once gave me some very good, simple advice that has always stuck with me, maybe more than anything else he ever said!

He told me that in life, you should make any decision based on the best information you have at a given time, and then you just go forward. You don't look back and second-guess yourself, saying "I should have..." or "Maybe if I'd..." I have many times realized just how right he was. (Daddy below as a young man during WWII:)


Well, I thought about that this morning as I woke up. My 85-year old dad is, as we speak, having open heart surgery, and he is definitely on my mind. I'll be heading down to Georgia to see him next week, to be with him once he's out of the hospital. My older sister and her husband are with him right now. (Daddy below, at 85, agonizing over a critical move he's making in a hot game of Farkle!:)


It's so typical of life, to me, that our family tends to stay very healthy, but right now, two of my family members are having pretty major health concerns, at the exact same time--my dad, and my younger sister, Claudia. (below with her 2 kids:)

Daddy and Claudia,...you' re both definitely such troopers, and I know you are going to do well. You've both had pretty agonizing decisions to make, and I know you're both "moving forward." I love you both...

"The family is one of Nature's masterpieces." (-George Santayana)