Family - By Jim Carlson

We all become part of a family, no matter how many we become. 

Even an animal can become part of our clan, 

along with daughters, sisters, and brothers. 

The biggest words that go with family are love and respect. 

You have to have respect for your wife, husband, or kids, 

Or else you’re not really a family. 

  

Love makes me go from day to day. 

I think about it during the night when I’m asleep. 

I find the love that I need when I’m getting out of bed 

And getting ready to start my day. 

  

Sometimes you’re born with love 

Sometimes you learn love as you grow older 

Sometimes love leaves you as you work out with other people 

Love to me is something you learn. 

You have to learn how to love, who to love, and why you love them. 

Mothers have love for their kids-- 

They make lunches, they’re around-- 

It’s easier for mothers to love than dads. 

Dads come home after work and say “he’s mine.” 

My mother has always been home. 

My wife has always been home. 

I’ll be there to help when you need me. 

  

It’s hard for me because I’m 84 

And to share my life with my kids as I’ve grown older 

I’ve learned that perhaps the kids are right and I’m wrong 

Maybe, not for sure, but maybe. 

They are thinking as I am thinking 

But with different words and different ideas. 

Times have changed. It is the way it is. 

  

You might say that others want to become our family 

One way or the other 

Because they see what you have is what they want as their own 

I see kids up and down the street 

Wild, wild 

Maybe their parents aren't watching out for them. 

You never know who is coming down that street. 

Ride on the sidewalk. Stay out of people’s way. 

Don’t smoke, don’t say bad words, share your thoughts and ideas. 

You’ve got all these things to worry about as you get older. 

  

The love we have together now we will never lose. 

There’s love for the newest, his name is Liam. 

He’s got everybody’s love now. 

There’s 19 in my family now. 

Liam is one of our own. 

I hope that he learns that love is there for him to grasp if he wants to grasp it.

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