Candle

Ten days ago my niece Candle and her family arrived for a visit.  This was a real event for myself and my family.  Candle is my sister's child.  I had only met her twice before, once when she was a very young child and again at her Mother's funeral.  Obviously we did not know each other very well.
Candle was the second child of sister's marriage to an African American and my sister's first daughter. Daughter's are so important, well, so are sons, but a daughter to a woman is special.  This is someone who we feel we will always relate to and have a special relationship with.  Unfortunately it doesn't always work out that way.

After Candle's birth my sister and her husband had problems in their marriage and soon split up.  My sister Peggy, Candle's Mother, carried with her a lot of unsolved issues from her childhood, as did I, and at that time neither one of us knew were to look for help out of the frightening wilds of our childhood.  Candle's father was given custody of the two children of that marriage and Candle lost touch with her mother when my sister moved to Florida.

Candle arrived here with her beautiful family.  They got to know her cousins, both my daughter Tami and my eldest son Michael.  We were all so happy to see her.  It was the first time the cousins had met.  Her time with me was bittersweet.  It was necessary to discuss her Mother; the good, the bad and the ugly.  We spent a couple of hours each day alone with each other as we talked.  I hope that Candle left here knowing that we all have a good, a bad and an ugly. her Mother, Myself and even Candle.  I also hope that she took home knowledge that her Mother loved her and did the best she could with the knowledge and experience that she had at the time.

Thank you Candle, Aireil, Nathaniel, Noah, Alexia, Xia and the new life yet to come.  Please continue to be a part of our lives.

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012............1:17p.m.