This week has been a great week with family. Granted, just last week I had the time off with my own family to enjoy our week of summer vacation. This week, my brother-in-law, who lives in Oregon, came to visit his parents and my wife for his father’s 80th birthday. It has been a great visit for he and his parents and certainly for my wife. It is great to see the interaction between my in-laws and the love they have for one another.
Recently, due to some health complications, my father-in-law has lost his sight. He appears to be handling his condition really well. He still gets around on his own for the most part and my mother-in-law does the driving now. He still remembers just about every landmark and street intersection that he’s ever driven. He knows where everything is in the stores and shops they frequent. He is still very independent even though it is difficult for him to see anything. My father-in-law has written a book entitled, Hangings and Lynchings in Dallas County, Texas: 1853-1920, published January 22, 2016. It is an interesting read with all of the facts of of the hangings and lynchings as recorded in newspapers and other research that he has found.
My mother-in-law happens to be one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. She is faithful to her husband and children. She is very prim and proper and is one of the funniest ladies I’ve ever known. She is serious about life but enjoys it and laughs at various things that she enjoys; she even laughs at some of my jokes. She has always been faithful to her church and is a student of the Bible. She is very knowledgable about her genealogy and so many other topics of history, pottery, Texas history, etc. She’s just a very intelligent person, in my opinion, and she is a humble person as well.
My brother-in-law is a great friend. He has always been encouraging to me ever since I’ve known him. He has a quick wit and is also very highly intelligent. He works for a government agency that is the only one of its kind in the world. He is paleontologist and a lead herpatologist. Now if you know what those words mean, you know that he’s studied a lot and still discovers and learns about his work from day-to-day. When I tell you that he’s a smart guy, I mean he’s really smart in my view. I cannot help but love our conversations. I don’t think that you can be as witty as he is without the smarts that he has.
My wife, of course, has been the love of my life for a little over thirty years. I knew after our first date that I was going to marry her. In fact, and this is truthful, I asked her to marry me on our second date. She said, “No.” I said, “Well, I want you to know that I love you already.” She said, “Thanks.” We dated for two years and two months to the day and then we married. So we’ve had over twenty-eight years of marriage together with all the ups and downs that go on in marriage. She is the most loving, loyal, truthful, honest, and hardworking person I have ever known. Her love for God, for me and for our two Sons is incomparable to any other love that I have ever known besides the love of Jesus Christ. I cannot tell you just how much I love her for sticking it out with me because sometimes I don’t want to stick it out with myself!
So why am I writing about my wife and her family? Because I love them. They are good stock–nay–great stock! They’re the salt of the earth. They’re people who care for others and love each other deeply. Just like any other family, they’ve had their share of hardships and good times but they’ve been a family that has stayed together through thick and thin. They are faithful to each other and they love each other.
I’m just blessed to be a part of the family.
D.J. Gorena 
