ITS ONLY THE GIVING THAT MAKES YOU WHAT YOU ARE..

Ive had a lovely birthday...whats great about being a twin is you get to give a gift on this special day..thankyou for all the lovely wishes from you lot and my wonderful dedication from koos and val blew me away that did....but something else happened today....my eldest sister jean came with a card for me ..first time ive seen her in over a year...she was a war baby her father was an american officer he was married so mum had to go away to have her...and mams family wanted her to be adopted out..but then my mums sister died of tubcolosis and another one had been blown to pieces by a land mine with her newly wed husband ..so the family told mum to bring jean home and they would look after her...when my mums mum died my grandfather couldnt look after jean she was 14 and had to come live with mam and dad and us lot 5 of us....this hit her hard as we were quite poor ...dad always worked but money was tight..we had a clean home and good food in our bellys but our clothes were rags......she was used to being spoilt...so there was always alot of animosity between her and my mum and us lot...not me i was to young..back to today...45 years ago my mum bought my sister and her now husband a gold plated porcelain coffee set for their engagement present...anyway jean didnt think it was good enough ...it took mum ages to pay for it...so the coffee set went in my mums cabinet and when mum and later dad died..the cabinet with its contents stayed with my brother who was still at home...i made a promise to my sister ages ago that i would get it back for her ...because in reflection the coffee set has come to mean lot more to jean an acceptance of how much mam loved her i think.......its been hard because some thought she didnt deserve it ...but it has just collected dust for years it means nothing to anyone else ..except a long standing grudge...everytime i broach the subject it seemed to bring up bad feeling...last week my brother was talking of all the renovations he has done to his new home and how he has bought all new furniture...and thrown the old out...i asked ..what about mams cabinet he said its in the garage...why do you want it i said yes...and the content ? do you still have that? ...yes he said you can have that too...i said the coffee set ...i have to give it to jean...he didnt seem to mind....i think its time...i havent told the others yet i will deal with that as it happens...soooo when jean came today....i said i have a gift for you....i knew she would cry so i had the hanky ready for her...she opened the box and there it was as good as the day it was bought 45 years ago...she burst in to tears and i cuddled her..she said why have i got it back ...i simply said ..its back with its rightful owner....you!...so that made today special....in the the words of JETHRO TULL...LP AQUALUNG -track WOND'RING ALOUD....its only the giving that makes you what you are......