The weather is hot, the air quality poor, and it seems many are having difficult times.  Myself and my family included.  My father discovered recently that he has an anuerism in his descending aorta, not a good thing. The family gathered at my father's summer home for the 4th of July weekend.  I hadn't expected to travel back East, but I am glad that all of my brothers and my sister could be together.  We all have such separate lives, yet we are one. One family.  We will always be the same for that and grateful for that fact.  So many people who meet my father- if only for a brief time, quickly see that he is an exceptional human.  How lucky we are he heads our table.