A family, at least the way my family always spoke of, was first and foremost to each other. Family is priority one.

Ask Chris Y Garcia how often he has visited his family. He flies annually to Washington DC to visit strangers. He has never visited his either of his grandson’s independently. Walter and Anthony would never see their grandfather if they did not make all of the effort. Now, Michael, on the other hand, Chris would drive across the country to see. He expects calls and cards and visits. He never calls, never sends a card or letter and never visits. How long would you keep that one-way relationship alive? I think 15 years is long enough.

Ask Herta Garcia what she thinks about seeing family. She will fly to Germany and New Jersey, but she would not drive 30 miles to see her grandsons. She drove her nephew all over Southern California but could not go to Hollywood or to Burbank or to Valencia or to the Beach with her grandsons. She will drive all over creation to see Kathie’s boys play soccer, but refuses to drive 30 miles to watch a movie or go to lunch with her own daughter. She wants birthday acknowledgement and anniversary recognition, but never sent an anniversary card or a birthday card to the spouse…only half the time a birthday card to the blood relative. Never included the spouse on the Christmas cards. How long would you keep that relationship going? I think 15 years is long enough.

Ask your friends and co-workers this: What would they do if their sibling did not send a card for their wedding? Anniversary or birthday cards? Pictures of the kids? Thank you cards or phone calls from the kids? How long would they persist before saying, “Have a nice life”? I think 10 years was plenty. Yet the response I got was this.

So, as you go through this family tree ask yourself, how important is family to you? If you see your name I would suggest you do not ignore people the way Chris, Herta and Kathie do.

I hope for you that your branch of the family is close. That they walk the walk when they say "blood is thicker than water". Keep in contact with those who contact you. Reciprocate the effort…and if you do not at least have the courtesy to honestly tell them why you don't.

Because Chris, Herta and Kathie don't, it means the loss of that part of the family. As you go through this site please feel free to contact us. At this point the only links to the my side of the family that I have are my mother, my step-mother, my brother and Leonard Yniguez.