They give me hope

Every familt has two sides to it. Your mom's side and your dad's side. My mothers side of the family with 2 exceptions (one of them being dead) are all horrible rich greedy moraless selfish bastards. And my dad's side of the family are the best people you could ask for. They are straightforward, line walking, down to earth, big hearted people. The kind of people that will give you their last dollar if they think you really need it. My granparents are my rock. They brought myself, my brother, and my three cousins up with respect for other people and a sense of pride in who we were. Sure we lived on farms or in trailer parks, but we didn't have to be like all the low lifes around us they used to say. We had potential to break the mold.

As we grew up we all changed, for better or worse. My oldest cousin got addicted to a lot of pain medications and was in and out of rehab that my granparents paid for. He has a little boy named Jericho and my second oldest cousin holli had a little girl named Natalie. Natalie and Jericho really brought the family together because neither of their parents were there for them. My oldest cousin wasn't there because he couldn't be. He wasn't fit to be around his son until her was sober. And my other cousin, well she just came around to visit Natalie when it was convienient for her. My third and the youngest cousin Becky (the only one i ever really got along with) ended up dropping out of school to raise them both. And she got her diploma right on schedule through night school But when i graduated, i was the first grandkid to have a real high school graduation. And when i decided to go to college four years later i was STILL the first grankid to go off to a real college and do something.

This story isn't about all of that. But i needed you to know how strong my grandparents are. Because they are one of the only things that still convinces me you can make a loving relationship work out anymore. They fight and make up. They tease each other and still my grandma will walk right up and sit in my grandpas lap and he'll kiss her on the lips and run his fingers through her hair. Three open heart surgeries and five bouts with different cancers between them and they are still going strong.

In 2003 it was their 65th wedding anniversary and we threw them a big party because on their 50th and 60th between the two of them one was in the hospital for both. But family and friends came all the way from Arkansas (where my granparents and most of my dad's family is from) to join us in celebrating this occasion. Most of the night i stood on the sidelines with my cousin becky and the kids, bt we all gathered round when it came time for their dance. They chose to dance to "Remember When" by Alan Jackson. And it was such an appropriate song. We all smiled and cried, i held my cousin becky's hand (we used to do this all the time when we were kids until her older sister holli called us dykes) and we smiled and the spun round slowly, my grandma crying and my granpa singing the words to her as they went.

The make me believe in love. And that moment preserves love in all it's glory for me forever.