Topic : 04/14 The Dr. Phil House: House of Greed

    I just watched the first episode of "House of Greed". I sat here physically and emotionaly unable to move.

   There is a beautiful woman in a picture frame that watches over the bed where I sleep. She helped shape who I am to this day.She was my bestfriend in the whole world, I could tell her anything and she would listen and never let me down. That woman is my grandmother. I know that there was a Will in place when my grandmother passed away, but other than final arragements it made no reference to money. She left us her memories to charish and pass along to our own children and grandchildren. I remember sitting in the hospital with her after her first major stroke and holding her hand tracing the vains with my finger telling her I loved her. I dont have those vains to trace anymore, I have a frame with a picture of a beautiful woman who was and is my grandmother.

   When the grandaughter was entering the livingroom she had tears streaming down her cheeks and nobody even moved to hug her and hold her. I can not be the only person who noticed this! This is not about money, I dont believe it ever was. This child wants memories to hold and touch, a picture, a note stuffed in the family bible something tangable and why cant this family get it together long enough to realize that they are all suffering. The grandmother not only put up a stupid fence to divide her property from her daughters she put one up around her heart. The memories this family will be left with are not ones I would wish on my worst enemy. I hope for the sake of the children all the "fences" are torn down and someone hugs and holds those precious children without prompting, without being forced to by guilt, but with love.

  Before I fall asleep tonight I'll be looking into the face of my beloved grandmother and thanking her for the memories she created for us to hold in our hearts and hands forever. Take care all, be safe.

When my mother met my father he had a 6 year old adopted son. My brother's adoptive mother left him and my father on the side of the street with all of their belongings and just took off. She left them because my brother is Korean by birth and she didn't want that in her family. She has NEVER been a part of my brothers life, not ever. It was my mother, his stepmother, that kissed his owies and read him those Fairytales you made reference to. Our mother helped keep food on our table and a roof over our heads. She sat waiting durring my brothers long and intensive surgery when he was 7 years old and my dad was out of the country serving our militairy. She worried and cried for him, not caring that she did not birth this child he was her child in heart. It is not easy for anyone to find their place in a ready-made family. Giving birth does NOT make u a mommy any more than donating sperm makes u a daddy. Those special names are said with love. A child is not born knowing how to love, he is taught that. His enviroment shapes who he will be when he is a man, and sometimes those enviroments have stepmothers and stepfathers. Fairytales are just simply works of imagination, they hold no basis on ordinary life, unless of corse I've missed the singing dancing 7 dwarfs in my livingroom.

My husband and I set up a Trust Fund for our six children because we thought it would save five of our children from having to deal with their oldest brother and his family after we were gone. 

Well, sadly, it did not work out that way and the oldest son threw away close to $100.000.00 of our hard earned savings by taking the five other children to court to dispute the way we set up the Trust Fund.