Nov
Family Tides
Our Thanksgiving dinner was small, being just my wife and I. We had a peaceful and relaxing day. I remember a time long ago when Thanksgiving dinner meant many cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. I also remember Thanksgivings alone, Thanksgivings with friends and Thanksgivings with in-laws. What changed?
Families change and have their ebb and flow. They may grow or shrink as family members are born, or die, or move away, or come together. People stay close, people scatter, and people change. Most of the folks who were present at the Thanksgivings of my childhood are gone. Grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles have died of old age as the decades moved forward. The cousins went their separate ways. In later years, in-laws passed on or moved. Friends went where their lives took them. Many had their own family Thanksgivings to prepare.
Holidays like Thanksgiving illustrate the tides and times of families and friends. These are not static things. They have their own lives and cycles, their own waxing and waning. Holidays are like mile markers in time.
Stagnation is death. Living things have a flow to them. There is a timing, a rising, a falling, a growing and a shrinking and a growing again. Families and relationships are living things. Allow yourself to enjoy the flow and to appreciate it for yourself. You are not a bystander, but a participant in this thing we call Life.
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The past few years since my father in law died and my mother in law moved, my wife and I have usually celebrated the holiday ourselves. There were the years when we had Thanksgiving at a nice German restaurant, until it closed. The last couple years we have had it at home. Where will we have it next year? Who knows. One thing we have learned is that the flow of Life is such that we may have it at home again, or just as easily might have dinner with many. My wife and I appreciate this flow and the varied experiences it has given us. For us, it is something to anticipate and enjoy.
