How important....

How important is it to not loose touch with your family?
In my husband's case, very. We have not seen his one aunt and cousins in over thirty years. I found out where they were and we went to visit. It turns out that one of his cousins has had a stroke, the other is in stage 4 cancer of the lungs and liver.
We did not get to see her as she was sleeping while we were there. We hope to get back to visit her before she passes; however this is an eight hour drive. If we can work it out we most definitely will be going.
His other aunt that we visited I have never met. When I figured out that she was still living, I went on a hunt to find out where. My husband was like let's just drive by her house. Next thing I know he is parking the car, jumping out of the car and off to the front door. She was so shocked to see him. She kept saying how lonely she was and she has lots of stories to tell.
We can't wait to go back and visit her.
So keeping in touch is so important. Please put down any anger you have and get back in touch with family. It maybe hard to forgive, but it is too late once they are gone.