Michael Corleone sure knows how to clean house.

Growing up, I must have heard my mother say to us, "you never take side against the family!" a dozen times. More importantly, she showed us how important loyalty among family members is with her love and devotion. We never took side against each other, my siblings and I. And we never will. Even if one of us does something really stupid that the rest of us believe was a terrible decision, we would never, ever withhold our support. We would never leave someone hanging, we would never brag about how we told them so, we would never throw anyone under the bus or stab them in the back. You never take side against the family. Family is all you have. You can never lose your family.

This weekend The Godfather Part I and Part II have been on tv. There are several things I've been thinking about while watching snippets. First of all, both Robert de Niro and Al Pacino were way better looking when they were 25. I wouldn't say either aged very well, but especially Al Pacino. Young Vito Corleone running around the rooftops in his little 1920s hat and garb is super hot. Of course the fact that he speaks Italian almost solely is probably a plus. But perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed about myself is how cavalier I am about the lives that are taken. Well, Fanucci has to die. He's taking money from honest people and ruling the neighborhood with an iron fist. Of course McCluskey must be killed, even if he's a cop. He crossed over in their world, he set up the don to be murdered.

But most heartbreaking of all is Fredo. What a dumb dummy this kid is. Michael, who never wanted to become the head of the family and tried to avoid it for years, is really truly heartbroken when he finds out that Fredo has betrayed him (for those of you who haven't seen the movie, it's the part where he kisses him on the lips in the middle of the New Years celebration). But Michael still won't give the order to have him killed. And when he finally must, part of Michael dies with him and he never forgives himself. Can you imagine? Having to have your own brother killed? It would be so devastating. Yet somehow I find it excusable.

Poor Michael. He really wanted to legitimate. He tried for years. Instead he becomes the most brutal and feared mob boss of all time. He had to be strong for the whole family. He had to do what he had to do. And his horrible wife left him and tried to take his children away from him, and he ends up alone in Italy without family, dying a broken old man. His first, Italian wife would never have left him. She knew the importance of family. She knew what it meant to be loyal.

I remember watching the first part with my mother when I was in college. The part where old Vito Corleone is sitting in the garden drinking wine made my mother say that it reminded her of her Romanian grandfather who was a viticulturist himself. She said he was pretty scary, which I guess is totally believable because her own father was also pretty scary dude in my opinion. Although now that I'm older I wish that I had known both her parents a little better. I didn't know either of my extended families well. Or actually at all. But seeing a vineyard always reminds me of my mother's family. I'm thankful that I've been raised to value the importance of family. I'm also thankful that my father isn't the head of the most powerful crime family in America. I've got a lot to be thankful for.