Feeling grief? They're the relief.
Having fun? They share the sun.
Family matters in a life filled with uncertainty, grief, and the world's indifference. Standing in the broad onslaught of "slings and arrows" you are never solely alone. Making plans and forays into the future with family at your back -- works.
And isn't it grand.
Going to Costa Rica for a wedding, family accompanies.
Traveling across the USA for Janice's birthday, there they come.
Opening the Inn at Mukilteo for a few days, family fills the rooms.
Ride your bike for 300 miles with your grandpa and family smiles on the accomplishment.
Family matters with health, transportation, travel, entertainment. Family fills the nooks and crannies, carries us a little farther down the road, smiles or grimaces at our indiscretions, stands by our bedside when needed, brings camp chairs when needed, posts pictures of baby animals when needed, looks the other way when needed.
Our family. Family strung across miles and states and countries and oceans, yet connected by those blood ties too strong, too invisible, too mystical to articulate intelligently. The differences and personalities resemble a basket of fruit. Some are sweet, some tart, some prickly, (I'm not saying who is who) but thinking about how we all got here awakens the divine thought processes. I'll get back to you on the God-and-bananas metaphor. Sometimes I dig a trench too deep.
Still I am thinking about this Family Blog for and about family. Our family. Who is going where, when. Who is up to what, why. How is their health, dogs, cars, quilting, running, biking. Taking an emotional temperature of happiness, contentment. Thinking about family matters: how they matter and what matters they are up to fills my cup this morning.
I had a Sons Dinner on Sunday, and there was this gaggle of bright, smiling boys with Stephanie and friends and a hearty Ham Chowder on a bright sunshiny day doing nothing but being family. And eating. I would fix soup on the one day in January that Seattle hit 70 degrees.
Christian built a model with Connor. Ian was teased unmercifully due to his trip to Arizona during all the Super Bowl hoopla. Stephanie ate candy hearts and teased Ian. Roger and Carol talked real estate, homeowners associations and teased Ian some more. Ian explained to no-one-listening that he had had his reservations for months. Christian said he could probably scalp his hotel room but would have to give up his iron. Christian told us all what NERF stood for. I forget now. Non Expanding __?__ Foam, did you know that? Family, nothing much and everything, a paradox worthy of Hawkins.
And I know your family is the same.
I know the Seattle football family is out in force. What I don't know is why all the most die-hard fans I know are women. I know people going out and buying new big screen TVs for the big event. I know I will get sucked into the vortex before it is over. I can feel it tugging. I have been asked one too many times if I was buying a Seahawks t-shirt. The answer is no, even though I know the names of three players. I told you I was getting sucked in. Ian's friend Nila, Carol's daughter, Katie, Mary's daughter Lisa all post something on FB every day. I don't know what the Las Vegas odds are, but I am eighteen percent invested. My fear, as you always have for family, isn't for me, but how sad everyone I know will be if the Seahawks lose.
Family, nothing extraordinary and everything.
On a side note: Family "Culture"
...culture, which has been given the honor because it was the most looked-up word in 2014 at Merriam-Webster.com. While look-ups of "culture" typically spike when students go back to school around Labor Day, this past year, look-ups of the word extended well beyond that period.
"The term conveys a kind of academic attention to systematic behavior and allows us to identify and isolate an idea, issue or group: we speak of a 'culture of transparency'' or 'consumer culture,'" wrote the dictionary's editors when they announced the choice.
Culture can be either very broad, as in "celebrity culture" or "winning culture," or very specific, as in "test-prep culture" or "marching band culture."
"This year, the use of the word culture to define ideas in this way has moved from the classroom syllabus to the conversation at large, appearing in headlines and analyses across a wide swath of topics," say the Merriam-Webster editors.
The top 10 words of the year and their meaning:
1. Culture: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place or time
2. Nostalgia: pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again
3. Insidious: causing harm in a way that is gradual or not easily noticed
4. Legacy: something (such as property or money) that is received from someone who has died
5. Feminism: the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities
6. Je ne sais quoi: a pleasant quality that is hard to describe. In French the phrase" je ne sais quoi" means literally "I know not what."
7. Innovation: a new idea, device or method
8. Surreptitious: done in a secret way
9. Autonomy: the state of existing or acting separately from others; independence
10. Morbidity: the rate at which a disease occurs in a group of individuals
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