Do you want to know what's strange? I'll tell you what's strange being the last one standing We're gonna talk about that a little bit today because it's it's strange And I just found out that I'm not the only one of people in my circle that are the last ones standing Are you let's find out? Oh, I'm Michael crows. This is a daily grateful and what else is it?
Good morning, Americans Friday, that's right. I've had another one that I have to put it on here I've used it before about Fridays, but I'll take Paul Harvey right now any day He's just fine, and I like it. Um, I'm the last one standing Weird what am I talking about? What are you talking?
All right? Let me just explain I come from a family of five There was mom. There was dad. There was my older sister Judy.
There was my older brother Aldo or Al and then there was me there was me and In the 50s we were one of those little nuclear families. That's exactly what we were working parents You know strived bought a house out at a lake My dad found us a place out at a place called Mill Lake between between Battle Creek and Hastings, Michigan And I was you know lived a really charmed life I mean we were not rich, you know working class all the way at a five bedroom old house The house was old when we bought it I remember our house payments were a hundred dollars a month Which was a struggle because most people's house payments was like 60 and 70 dollars a month But we got this one for a hundred dollars a month and is what the house payment was nuclear family grew on Eventually moved to Florida. My brother joined the service. My sister joined the police department You know I did all my things and off we went into the wild blue yonder and then in 1973.
Yeah, I died I think he was 48 years old died of something called burgers disease, which is a smoking disease It affects your circulation system over the years. He had several amputations You know, I thought that he had lost his leg in World War two No, he lost his leg because he was a heavy smoker and got burgers disease lost his foot eventually lost a finger He eventually had attacked internal organs and at 48 years old age. He died. Yeah, that's what happened That was the end of him.
He was the first to go and then in 1999 my sister who was by the way I am the only person in my family who never ever ever smoked cigarettes that would be me never did I ever and The rest of them all heavy smokers everybody was heavy smokers So I remember driving in our 1964 Falcon station wagon driving to Florida on a vacation I got the way back then by the way back I'm at the back end of the of the station wagon all the luggage is there and they have a little place for me in the back to lay On a blanket with pillows and look out the back window while everybody in the car The other four members of the family are in the car driving to Florida and they're all smoking cigarettes And by the way, we did this and we came to Florida in January. Okay, so it's cold So no open windows and the cigarette smoke just totally anyway I guess you could say I was a smoker, but not by choice, but anyway in 1999 My sister died of lung cancer three-year journey with her hard death very very very heartbreaking hard-breaking death So then in 2005 This is the absolute worst thing that could ever happen mom passed away at 81 years of age lost mom and All of the you know, I started noticing then that the history of my family I could always ask my sister questions, you know, my brother Yeah, questions my mom definitely questions my uncle I could ask him a million questions and I learned tons from him my late aunt Vivian knew more than anybody But now we're down to where it's just me and my brother and we would have wonderful talks about the family We would go back and remember things that happened in the 50s We would go back and remember interactions between our parents We had talks I just can't even begin to tell you the amount of talks that we had about the family and about our upbringing and about all of those things and in March of this year my brother passed away and he he It was it was a slow just just the only word I can say is shitty death But in the end he was it was peaceful In the end he laid in hospital in clear water for about four or five days and then finally left But it was kind of a traumatic ending up to that It was a real traumatic ending right up until that until the decision was made to let him go And now I find myself sitting as The only member of my family that exists and I got to tell you it's it's freaking weird It is and I wish I could explain why it's weird, but here's what I've discovered I've discovered that I I'm not alone in this I am not alone in this I have a friend named Gary You know I keep up with people from my class in on Facebook and we get together and we have breakfast ever So once in a while and my friend Gary a large family and done even I've known all of them his brother I'm not gonna mention his name, but he his brother was a very famous disjockey nationwide passed away at a very young age and Gary just lost his sister when Gary lost his sister who was a beautiful young woman He became the last one standing in his family the last original family and then I find out my friend John He's a musician same position last one standing and here we all are And we've kind of chatted a little bit about it on Facebook and said we need to form a club because it's just plain outright empty and weird That's all I can say about it But you know what I'm filled with I'm filled with gratitude about all of the memories that I have yes I'm sad you know how many times since my my brother has died in March, you know how many damn times I've wanted to call him to talk about the most insignificant little thing that I knew I would get excellent feedback from him Can't do it anymore Because he was the last one used to be able to talk to my sister about stuff used to be able to talk to mom Now I can only every memory that I have about my family And that Gary has about his family and that john has about his family and maybe you're in this position too Maybe you are in this position too But the only damn memories we have the only access to our history is what we now know That's it The only history we have is what we now know And it sucks And this is an this is a podcast about gratitude, but I gotta tell you it's it just sucks Maybe this is something for therapy, but here's the good part. Okay I'm very grateful that I've had all of them I'm very grateful that I can push all of the information that I have To my children and I do Zach sometimes gets tired of it, but he listens and I can tell he appreciates And you know Those are the people who shapes me Those are the people Who made me the parent that I am Good or bad Some of the real crap shit that my dad did taught me never to do that to my kids Okay, and by the way, I can only say that now because I'm the last one standing I would have never insulted my father in front of my brother but It's it's just I'm the last one and I spent my you know my adulthood Trying to teach my kids from what I've learned and I guess with my last Bit of existence on this planet. That's my job now To spread the story of our family history to my children to my grandchildren To be a resource for them And then I have five kids I have five children So someday someday In the distant future, there'll be a last one standing there and I guess it will be their job It'll be their job to spread the history of their family I'm grateful for all I have I can now focus on all that I've learned from them I can be very appreciative of the time that I spent with them Especially some of the wonderful times as well as some of the painful times The three-year journey with my sister should have earned the very hard decisions that the family had to make for my brother I'm grateful for all of that.
Oh, well. See you next week