This Is Us is REALLY us!

Last night's episode of "This Is Us", in my opinion, was one of the best things I have ever seen on television.  Anyone who thinks children (whatever age they are) do not think they are the favorite or that another sibling is the favorite is 100% wrong.

When Joe was in the hospital before he passed away, our oldest son, who at the time lived in Alaska, flew down to be with his dad.  I will never forget the moment when we were all in the room with Joe, and Charles walked in. The look on Joe's face when he saw Charles and lifted his arms toward him.  Charles laid his head down on Joe's chest and they both cried and hugged and Joe said "my son".  It was in that instant that we all knew who was the favorite.  The love between those two was so huge and intense that there was no question.  The other kids, almost in unison, said ahhhhh, Charles is the favorite.  No hard feelings.  No anger.  No jealousy.

Where I think the show failed last night was when Rebecca finally broke down and said that Randall was always easy to love, she lost the perfect opportunity to say because I chose to love Randall.  You see, Joe adopted Charles when he was a baby.  He chose to love him.  It's human nature to naturally love the children you give birth too for almost all of us.  You don't have a choice.  Sharing your name, your home, your life with a stranger is not an easy thing for many people but making the choice to do so is one of the most unselfish acts a person can do.

When I married Joe, it was a package deal of him and his 4 children.  Four wonderful teenagers who did not have an ideal, if any, relationship with their mother.  Four incredible people who just wanted to be loved. Four children who I welcomed with my whole heart into my home and my life and could not possibly love any more than had I birthed them.  Add that 4 and the 2 that Joe and I created and you have 6 children arguing about who is the favorite.  Asking who is the favorite and getting the answer "you are all my favorite".  Let's face it, as parents we always love our children but sometimes we don't particularly like them.  It's not constant and it's not sincere and sometimes you're just closer to one child over the other but you always love them.  Oh yes, they still do the "I'm the favorite" only to hear back "no you're, not Charles is."  They chuckle and smile and say, "yeah, that's right".



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Cancer? Must be August.

February 2007 was a major turning point in our lives.  We no longer took things for granted.  We no longer failed to thank God every morning for giving us another day of life.  We enjoyed our lives. Life quickly returned to normal. Joe went back to work in July of 2007, flying here and there every week.  We  put cancer behind us, well at least we tried.  Every cough, every sore throat, every funny twinge brought the fear very much to the forefront of our minds.  Every 6 month check up was pure torture.  Fear of what they were going to say.  What they were going to find.  One year came and went.  Two years, three, four, five.  Five years that's the biggie - that's CANCER FREE .  How wonderful it felt to reach that mark and begin our now cancer free walk into the sixth year.  It became a little easier to say I HAD cancer.  We were living the life........until August 2012   Julie caught a horrible cold....
Read more
Image
  I've known  since I was 8 years old that I would someday die from either a heart attack or a stroke.  Almost everyone on both sides of my parents' families have died from a heart issue or a stroke.  Even at that young age, I didn't need an explanation. In spite of  this theory and my growing annoyance by my Apple Watch shouting "Your heart has shown signs of an irregular rhythm suggestive of atrial fibrillation" I was still shocked when at my last cardiologist appointment, the doctor walked in and said "you are in afib".  My appointment six months prior had ended so wonderful - blood pressure lower than it's been in years, weight going down and just feeling great so I was not expecting that diagnosis at all.  Atrial Fibrillation -  The heart's upper chambers (atria) beat out of coordination with the lower chambers.  During a normal heartbeat, the upper chambers (atria) and lower chambers (ventricles) of the heart work together to pum...
Read more

I Miss You Quite Terribly

Image
"But I must admit, I miss you quite terribly.  The world is too quiet without you nearby"  Lemony Snicket.   When I was 11 years old , my mom and dad pulled my sister, Julie, and I out of school early.  We were not heading for a vacation but a journey of another sorts.  We were told that our dad had stage IV Throat Cancer and would not be alive by the end of the month.  The plan was to pause life, go to Tijuana, and wait for the cancer to kill my father. Fortunately, that doctor was wrong and we all had 8 more years with my dad.  The years came with things I wish I did not know.  I wish that at 11, I had not become familiar with names and side effect of chemotherapy.  When my friends were playing at recess I would sit and stare at the hospital.  How lucky we were that our house, elementary school and the hospital are all within 5 minutes of each other. When I was older and my dad became sick again, I would get a flu shot ev...
Read more