Bye 2018
When we reflect on the past, it is often either the most recent past or long ago times that come to mind. Yet a reflection should be about a subject or specific, I think. Family comes to mind this year, as the ashes that we have custody of increased, and family members are not here anymore. Family are also not in the country this year as lives have become more global. We close another year having more knowledge first hand of our own country, having traveled across much of it.
Family isn't just blood as we all should know by now. My pleasure this year was to travel with some of the best people in my life ever. We flew, drove, walked, laughed, cried, drank. ate, talked in no specific order. 6 women, who started in life in similar places, went through life in part together, in part separate, raised kids, worked in many careers. Common threads, with common dreams. We want the best for our families, have different ideas of how to get that for and with them. Bonds once forged and broken, then reforged, overcoming politics with love and respect. Yes, family.
Blood still figures, as well. My dear Aunt, with the same horrible sickness as Mom's, passes quickly. No long time in a place where the daily horrors were too much to bear, her daughters were able to say goodbye to their Mamma. That is what we want, right? The chance to say goodbye and share love with the physical feel and touch. Lucky to be able to drive my Dad to see his dear nieces and family, we took the chance to do what family does in the face of death...we clean the rooms where the person lived and loved, challenged to deal with earthly belongings that have no use any longer for our loved Mammas and sisters and Dads and brothers, and yes children. We laugh, and marvel over the goods saved and share what is remembered. We use those boxes of Kleenex thoughtfully stashed in that upstairs linen closet.
Then there are the travels to far away places, our own and those of our family. Seeing the middle of our country, traveling with Dirk, on a fantastical road trip. New places, with new people, history and hope as we ate in roadside spots, saw crazy larger than life statues all over. Got to see family in Oklahoma, jazz there too. Amazing feats of architecture in Chicago and the gateway to the west in St. Louis. Fields of corn and turbines, seeing that energy from wind is the future, not coal, thankfully. These poor little towns that life and money have passed by, trying to stay alive by any means necessary. Desert and canyon, mountains and the Pacific. Food, well, chilies are the name of it all, west of Oklahoma. and Beef, all points in Chicago and west.
One of ours traveled so very far for so very long. He brought a new person along with him upon his temporary return. Family changes, including more as we move through life, happily.
A blow to all of us, at the very end of the year as our wonderful sister, and aunt, was suddenly taken from this place. Her life and light keeps me company in the car. Because that is the place, when I'm alone, that I can talk to those no longer physically present. One of what our kids called collectively "The Aunts", she corrupted, loved, instructed all those she mothered. We said goodbye just this past week, with love and laughter, friends and family. It still isn't real for me. Another place to go through, wondering about the belongings kept.
Family is what there is, when all else is superficial, loses its meaning. Family remembers what you remember, even when the details are different. Family encompasses sorrow and happiness. Family sees us into new experiences, and new years.
Family isn't just blood as we all should know by now. My pleasure this year was to travel with some of the best people in my life ever. We flew, drove, walked, laughed, cried, drank. ate, talked in no specific order. 6 women, who started in life in similar places, went through life in part together, in part separate, raised kids, worked in many careers. Common threads, with common dreams. We want the best for our families, have different ideas of how to get that for and with them. Bonds once forged and broken, then reforged, overcoming politics with love and respect. Yes, family.
Blood still figures, as well. My dear Aunt, with the same horrible sickness as Mom's, passes quickly. No long time in a place where the daily horrors were too much to bear, her daughters were able to say goodbye to their Mamma. That is what we want, right? The chance to say goodbye and share love with the physical feel and touch. Lucky to be able to drive my Dad to see his dear nieces and family, we took the chance to do what family does in the face of death...we clean the rooms where the person lived and loved, challenged to deal with earthly belongings that have no use any longer for our loved Mammas and sisters and Dads and brothers, and yes children. We laugh, and marvel over the goods saved and share what is remembered. We use those boxes of Kleenex thoughtfully stashed in that upstairs linen closet.
Then there are the travels to far away places, our own and those of our family. Seeing the middle of our country, traveling with Dirk, on a fantastical road trip. New places, with new people, history and hope as we ate in roadside spots, saw crazy larger than life statues all over. Got to see family in Oklahoma, jazz there too. Amazing feats of architecture in Chicago and the gateway to the west in St. Louis. Fields of corn and turbines, seeing that energy from wind is the future, not coal, thankfully. These poor little towns that life and money have passed by, trying to stay alive by any means necessary. Desert and canyon, mountains and the Pacific. Food, well, chilies are the name of it all, west of Oklahoma. and Beef, all points in Chicago and west.
One of ours traveled so very far for so very long. He brought a new person along with him upon his temporary return. Family changes, including more as we move through life, happily.
A blow to all of us, at the very end of the year as our wonderful sister, and aunt, was suddenly taken from this place. Her life and light keeps me company in the car. Because that is the place, when I'm alone, that I can talk to those no longer physically present. One of what our kids called collectively "The Aunts", she corrupted, loved, instructed all those she mothered. We said goodbye just this past week, with love and laughter, friends and family. It still isn't real for me. Another place to go through, wondering about the belongings kept.
Family is what there is, when all else is superficial, loses its meaning. Family remembers what you remember, even when the details are different. Family encompasses sorrow and happiness. Family sees us into new experiences, and new years.
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