A Note of Honest Thanks

Dear Family,

Thank you. It has been a long journey through this last two years. But it has been a fulfilling one- I have learned so much. I see, finally, the legacy that my parents and their relations have left me. They have left me with a deep appreciation of the past and of family; a love of the land that is rare today and feeling of the importance of community.

Since my diagnosis, every branch of my family has responded by bathing me in a deep love. Upon my birthday and again with the death and memorial for Lucia it has been that same process. Equally so are phone calls, emails and visits. Each of these events has been a deepening appreciation of that same love.

A time of awakening has come upon me. It has been a time of ceasing to analyze. I have just been able to open up and appreciate my fortune, my place in this truly loving family.

But what is immense is the deep warmth and caring that I get from my siblings and which I see moving between them as we go through hard times. I have talked with so many of you and I hear, without reservation, love and appreciation for one another. This caring, this softness towards one another is clear to me among my cousins as well in the way they have been so warmhearted at every turn of these trying times.

When I think of my siblings and cousins, whether by marriage or not, I must say that I had the good fortune to be born smack dab in the middle of a lot of very beautiful people.

And by the way, I do plan to keep on being part of this wonderful group as long as possible.

Thank you.

Love

John Hardin Shifflette