The Lady in the Back Row

"I won't be in class for a couple of weeks," Jody said to no one in particular before the instructor arrived.

I asked where she was going....

"I'm taking my mother on a cruise."

"So fun," I shrieked.

"NOT so at all," Jody responded.  "My mother is an angry bitter old woman.  She has NO friends, is very whiney and complains all the time."

She went on to explain some more about her mother...

When Jody's older brother had died a number of years previously, her mother was so distraught that she began to go to Indian casinos close to her home in So Cal and she gambled; A LOT!

The mother had had to take out a 3rd mortgage on her home, and by the time her daughter discovered what was happening, she was also in credit card debt of $78,000!  The daughter, Jody, insisted her mother go to Gambler's Anonymous, which the mother did for awhile.

Jody then told some more about her life, her story....truly some of it was unbelievable...particularly the part about her brother, her, and drugs.

I was left shaking my head, as I thought,

"Man, I'm so blessed in the family I was brought up in."

Sometimes, on a day out of the blue, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the great family I was raised in....and Wednesday was one of those days!