Importance of family

One thing these photos show me is the importance of family.

I look at the smiles of the people in the images on these past few posts and can't help but wonder what role I could have played in their lives had I known them decades ago.

The images on this post are mostly of my father Mel Kohn. He removed himself from the fabric of my life before my birth. Throughout my life, I saw this as his loss. But now that I realize there were other members of my family out there.

I feel this loss, too. Moreso than when I was a kid and had to explain where my father was, or was not. The fights I got in over it are nothing in comparison to this void that I now know can't be filled:

Grandparents I'll never have a chance to meet. A brother removed from the canvass before the brush was even dipped into paint. An uncle and aunt also out of my mind's eye before ever appearing. Cousins who have children of their own as old as mine and who I've never met.

What would their lives have been like and what would my life have been like had we known each other all these years?

It's all moot, though, since those are questions that will never be answered. Still, I can't help but pose the question.

And that is a shame.