The Family Reunion

There isn’t a family out there that doesn’t have or hasn’t had in the past some weird shit going on.
My family is no exception.
My daughter, who is one the brightest free -spirited women I have ever known, had a bad experience with some very strange and misguided people that caused her to distance herself from her family.
This all ended about 4 years ago and she and her husband, who helped her extricate herself from her situation, have slowly and steadily been working their way back to a state of normalcy.
In many cases like this, a lot of things get said and done that are hard, and sometimes even impossible, to completely undo.
But yesterday I was convinced that this had happened, as we all gathered, for a Mother’s Day celebration at my son’s house, which for the first time in close to a decade included my whole immediate family, pictured here.

From left to right: Rowan,  Heather, Ben, Star, Yours Truly, Daniel with Ryder and my sister Sharon caught in mid blink. Pic By Mel.
Even my sister Sharon was in attendance. She is my wife’s best friend and my closest sib.
We spent the afternoon talking, eating and playing with my son’s two kids, (The Fabulous Mur Bros), and all the while I felt like the bandage was being peeled off a deep wound because it was completely healed.
My kids are very different from each other. My son Dan is a baker, a businessman, and a professional manager. My daughter Star (nee Charlotte), is a very creative writer with a publishing contract for her first novel, and a wildly inquisitive intellect. Dan's wife Melissa (Mel) is an RMT, specialized in expectant mothers and an all pro mom. My SIL Ben is a film editor and one of the best in the business.
During the period of estrangement, everybody ended up with a deep wound or two. They just come with the territory.
But it is a beautiful testimony to the resilience of the human spirit and the ability to choose love over hate or apathy that this family is sitting at this table on this day, all burping and farting and talking and listening and caring about each other.
We are a lucky mob in that we all have each other and that this family unit is, indeed, finally all in one piece again. No one knows what will happen in the future, but for now, it is all good. And that’s all you can ask.
If you find yourself in a situation like the one we have gone through,  I can only encourage you to do whatever is in your power to get to the bottom of it and heal it.
There is so much division in the world right now. So much conflict and hate and misdirected anger.
Carve out a shelter from it within your own family. Find some peace and love with the people closest to you.
The reward is far greater than anything you can imagine.

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