Article February 13, 2012 Issue

Reconciled–at last

Philippa Chatterley

Throughout my life for one reason or another the relationship with a close relative never took off. In later years, after I became an adult, I joined the family business, which included working with this relative.

The business, which was started in 1846, hit some difficult financial times in the 1990s, and we had many family discussions. Meetings were often heated, since we all had very different views and expectations about how to run the company. Often, decision-making was difficult, and it seemed there was no middle ground, so someone always went away unhappy. The company eventually folded after trading for nearly 150 years with many hurt feelings left smoldering. 

Everyone was affected by this as each had to find new employment. For a while I lost touch with this relative. Over the next couple of decades we were again in and out of touch mostly over family issues.