Family
Ties
“Like
branches on a tree, we may grow in different directions, yet our
roots remain as one.” Anonymous
In
a couple of days, families will gather to celebrate our only purely
American holiday—Thanksgiving. For many of us, it is a feast
without parallel—turkey, dressing, vegetable casseroles, cranberry
sauce, etc, etc. We will come together with people we see
infrequently, perhaps only on this day each year, and we will feel
the deep-rooted bond of family. Many of us love our family beyond all
else, and thrive in the company of kin. And then, there are those of
us who don't so much thrive as hive; who have scars and lacerations
from years of family trials and tribulation. We, too, come together
with family, but out of obligation rather than love. It is on these
occasions that we feel our losses most acutely.
George
Burns once quipped, “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring,
close-knit family in another city.” For many of us, this is closer
to truth than comedy. There is an unusual conundrum we enter into
with our kith and kin; we both love, and sometimes, hate them. Maybe
hate is too strong a word, but some of us have difficulty being in
their presence for very long without gnawing off our tongues, or
screaming. We try to keep our visits short and focused on the holiday
and the things we have in common—that being our gene pool, and
perhaps, little else. I say these things, not to spoil your holiday,
but to state the truth of it. Some of us owe our very lives to people
we love, but don't always like.
This
Thanksgiving, what I wish for everyone, is to pull up the memory of
the good things; the values taught and lessons learned, the kindness
shown, the common traits between our relatives and us. We share their
very blood and bone, their brain cells and breath. Let us rejoice in
our likeness, minimize our difference, and give thanks for family one
and all.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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