Vol. 19 No. 28 | July 16, 20
Reunion: a gathering of two or more people coming back together after a period of separation.
To reunite with the ones we love, we will travel great distances, take time off from our jobs, and spend as much time and money as it takes to get to spend time together.
And on the day we all come back together, we celebrate.
We talk. We catch up on all the details of what we have missed since our last reunion. We talk about our careers, our health, and our kids. We talk about about how so much has changed, and how some things haven’t changed at all.
We listen. We listen to the details of recent weddings, of those who couldn’t attend and why. We hear stories about our distant relatives and marvel at the fact we’ve never heard them before. We listen to explanations of photographs, old and new, and search for familiar faces. We listen closely, a bit more than we used to, mainly because we can’t hear as well as we used to.
We remember. We reminisce about what it was like when we were kids, the trips we took, and the holidays we spent together. We remember our grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and brothers and sisters. And we remember the ones who are no longer with us.
We laugh. We laugh about stories from our childhood, the same ones we laughed about last year and the year before. We laugh about the things our parents said and the countless other things no one else would find humor in.
And we cry. We cry because we laughed until we cried. We cry because we are together again, and because we miss those who are no longer with us. We cry because every time we get together, we are fewer in number, older, and maybe a littler bit slower. We cry when we think of who might not be with us next time and because we know our time together will end much sooner that we want it to. We cry because we know we have to say good-bye.
And so, another family reunion has come and gone. We talked, we listened, and we remembered. We laughed, we cried, and we said good-bye, knowing we were blessed with another chance to do so.
One day, we will reunite with our families and friends here on earth for the final time. But this is not a time mourn. It is a time to celebrate. For we will then be reunited with our family, and the Lord, God, in heaven.
Tom
A Norvell Note © Copyright 2017 Tom Norvell All Rights Reserved.