family

As we children matured, I continued to love Maryann and of all 7 children I was the only one she cared about and wanted to be with. She was a wonderful aunt to my children and they adored her. She had a certain child-like innocence and was able to impart a lot of her gifts to my children that adults were not privy to. I became to understand Maryann by watching her interact with my kids. When my children got older she lost all interest in them, but she and I remained close. About a month before she died, at the age of 49, she had asked me if she started to drink carrot juice and eat vegetarian as I did would she ever look like me. From all her years of drinking and drug abuse her face had become mottled and puffy and her tiny frame was bloated. I told her she was already beautiful, but a healthy diet would definitely enhance her beauty. The day before she died she called to tell me that she had her first glass of carrot juice and was having salad and veggies for dinner. Before I began meditating this morning I was thinking of how I no longer have a relationship with any of my living siblings except my brother Kevin. Kevin who is deaf and blind in one eye and labeled mentally retarded is also a vegetarian due to my influence. I felt a little sad at the loss of ties to my other siblings, but at once recalled a statement a very wise soul had said to me: "It's alright to wait for someone as long as we don't wait with them." As I thought of that statement I felt peaceful and decided to meditate. While meditating Maryann's face flashed before me and I realized if she were alive today she would join Kevin and myself in the Animal Rights Movement. I wonder why it is that of all of my brothers and sisters only the 2 who were brain injured were able to see the unethical and immoral use of animals for food, while the others choose to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to such abuse.

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