Sheepville

My father called me at work the other day to tell me he had 6 months to live. I asked him what was wrong several times but at that point he had started crying and I couldn't understand what he was saying. He said I was the first to know and hung up. He has a wife and three kids besides me and still has a few of his brothers and sisters left. He was one of twelve children. His family has always been about as close as any normal family would be.

My mom had alienated herself from her family in the years before she died and the only ones that knew were me and my brother, and if it hadn't been for my brother I wouldn't have known. I guess her reasons were the same as mine would be, if you've alienated yourself from your family then it just selfish to burden them with knowing you're going to die. I've chosen to live without them and it wouldn't be right to burden them with the grief and expense to travel to the opposite coast just so I don't die alone.