Family Reunion Re-Set

I just got back from a family reunion. We have them every two years and I always meet them with a myriad of different emotions. They can be challenging. There are never enough beds or bed rooms and single members of the family are left to curl up on couches and on the floor in alcoves. I never get enough sleep. We have some challenging personalities as well. Sometimes you get allergic to one or the other. It's just natural in a group so large. And, then there's the grief. With every coming together, we must remember those who are no longer with us. And we pay tribute, because that's what we do. And it's good, but sad, too.

The best part of these reunions is how well I get re-set. Like a clock to the atomic. For two years, I go about my life and allow other influences and try on other perspectives and get swayed and convinced. And when I come back to my family -- and get so immersed -- there is no way to escape my center, the core of myself. The compass that points true north.

These people combined can be nothing other than what we are. The memory is too long. You can dye your hair, or take up smoking, or cop a huge attitude, or bring yet another wife along, and the group remains. Centered. Solid. Flexible, forgiving and forever what it was and will be.

At the core of this group is the core of me. And regrouping every two years re-centers my middle. What seemed so important that it was making me sick the night before I left, now doesn't matter a bit. Values are regained and remembered. A path forward now seems so clearly possible.

I am so thankful for these wonderful people.