My daily blessing

[Mike Vande]

My blessing for today is my family. For most of my adult life, I have lived away from my family and home town. I was the first to leave home, and then I joined the Air Force in 1972. I was eventually stationed in Tucson, Arizona, more than 1000 miles away from them. Since then, I have lived in my home town for only about 3 years between my stints in the Air Force and the Navy. The rest of the time, I have lived at least half a state away from anyone even vaguely related by blood. But, whenever I have managed to make it back home, the door is always open, and I am welcomed happily.

My father died of colon cancer in 1979, and my mother has lived alone since then. Mom is very involved with her church, and works a job outside her home every week day. I suspect I got my love of and talent for music from Mom. She’s the one who turned me on to The Ventures! Mom is in her 70’s now, and except for a few mishaps and some surgery, she is still going strong. Her parents have been gone for a long while now; Mom’s only sibling, my Aunt Judy, is the only member of her immediate family from her youth that’s still living. I think that must be lonely for her sometimes.

But, she has my sister Pam, who lives in our home town with her husband Chuck. He’s a fine Christian man who has been very good to Mom, and very good for my sister. Pam spends time with Mom, and they both seem to love it. Pam & Chuck have a house just outside of town, and they bring Mom out a lot; she was born a country girl, and loves the tress and birds and such. Pam has her MA in Counseling; she was always the smart one, as well as the cute one, which is only appropriate for the baby of the family. My little sis has never been afraid of work, and has, as far as I recall, been very single-minded about whatever she does. That’s one of a number of mixed blessings we refer as Vande traits; When we get our mind made up about something, that’s all, folks, we are gonna get ‘er done!

My big brother Jack and his family live in Minnesota. Jack is the kind of guy everyone likes as soon as they meet him, and has always been that way. He’s the oldest of us three, and has always been the steadiest. He’s a Respiratory Therapist, and has been since about 1970. His wife Carol is a lovely, intelligent woman, down-to-earth and practical enough to make her German ancestors proud. Unfortunately, she has been suffering for over three years with a chronic headache. They have been to Mayo Clinic several times over it, and seen a lot of specialists, but haven’t found a cause to treat yet. If I had been in either of their places, I would have lost it a long time ago, but they have carried on well enough to make a brother proud. They have three grown sons, Nick, Justin and Benjamin, and three grandchildren upon whom they proudly dote, Victoria, Nolayn, and Sebastain, currently the pride of the Vande clan across two states.

My Aunt Judi and Uncle Jim round out the family picture. I think Mom was in her middle-to-late teens when Judi was born. Jim & Judi were our idea of cool when we were kids; not that much older than us, but doing all the stuff we wished we were doing, and they seemed to know everything we wanted to know. Jim & Judi went through a very rough time when their first child, Shawna, passed away from leukemia while she was quite young. But they came through it, and eventually wound up with three boys, Shane, Tyson, and Sagan, all of whom are pretty much grown now. Tyson joined the Marines a few months back, and is in training to be an officer. His mom & dad worry for him, and we all pray for his safety in this current world climate. But he’s a pretty tough man, and I think he’s gonna do all right.

My family has always been there for me when I needed them, even when I was so wrapped up in my own stuff that I barely knew anyone else was alive. Jack, Pam and I went from Missouri to Nebraska to Michigan to Guam to Arkansas and back to Missouri with Mom & Dad while we were growing up. I think that pulled us closer together than some siblings ever get. And despite all the time we have been apart since I left home, I believe some of that will never go away. My family has helped me, every member of it, more than I know how to thank them for, and have loved me no matter how big a jerk I was, a considerable chore, then and now. I am proud to be related to them all, love them dearly, and I’m grateful to God for every one of them.