Sunday, November 30, 2008

Only In The Past


Thanksgiving represents a reflection of what time has brought within my family. Gone are the days when gathering together to share laughter, love, great food and conversation existed. The glue that brought us together was always my grandmother. With her around, everyone made the effort, though love and family or love of family should inspire everything to be effortless, especially during this time when not many of us are still among the living and one; my grandmother's eldest daughter(my mother) fights to remain... Instead, there are promises to spend time but no follows up on that promise... In a family where everyone lives less than an hour away from each other, no one can find the direction that leads us in similar paths. No one truly reaches out. No one remembers that life ain't guaranteed and a phone call does nothing to cover the tracks of a real true showing of love and appreciation for family... Nah.. Instead, we go elsewhere in opposite directions, doing things we've done in previous years that takes us away from what we once promised. My mother is blessed with three brothers and one sister; most of which have kids and families of their own. So, the potential of possibly nine to ten folks or maybe more around the dinner table is like a daydream or silly wishful thinking... The dinner table this year had four and that's only because someone special to me joined in along with my mother and her sister. There's an old song that says "the best is yet to come" but in this case, the best has come and gone. The best days, the best years, the times when family remembered family, first... But alas, without the glue around, we float in distant opposite directions, believing that coming together during times like funerals changes everything but it doesn't... the glue is gone and tape can't last forever... Promises hold the same weight as smoke blowing in the wind...

2 comments:

Kitten said...

I still believe that the best is yet to come. Life will always bring changes. We have to keep recreating ourselves, rebuild our families, make new friends etc.

Happy Holidays!

VAR said...

Thanks Kitten...
I appreciate your optimism and even though I believe there will be good times ahead, in the context of family that's come and gone, so too has the best of times... When I look back on members of my family that are no longer here, I'm in the same awe as when I think of folks like MLK, Kennedy, etc etc..