It sounds as if his children do not want to be near him, so the co-worker wonders what is wrong with him.

I would like to know why the next passage ia a joke. At the company water cooler, I bragged about my children's world travels: one son was teaching in Bolivia, another was working in southern Italy, and my daughter was completing a

perhaps I'm missing a joke here. The winking icon was the signal that it was a joke! CJ

Or "superstite"? But "superstished" is not a real word, is it? Or perhaps I'm missing a joke here. Thanks for the suggestion, CJ, and the correction too.