This
time of year, as the long cold mornings and evenings get longer and colder, I
always get a little melancholy. My body
goes into hibernation mode while my mind, as the holidays draw closer and I
begin to reflect on the year almost past, goes back.
I
remember other winter seasons, old memories that linger from holidays that were
less than ideal; my wedding in November under a cloud of disapproval that
lingered for years, a phone call on Thanksgiving day when I was 10 or 11
telling us that my grandmother had just died and the phone call 10 years ago,
the day after Thanksgiving, letting me know my brother had died the day
before. I already wrote about my
December birthday (see my post “Cookie Day”) with it’s own set of good and bad memories, and has it just been two
birthdays ago that I lost my mother?
I
missed Christmas last year because of illness and this year both of my grandchildren were away
on Thanksgiving and will be away from home on Christmas day so it’s not hard to
understand why I used to dread the winter months and the holidays that come
with them.
For
years I looked at these things like the
end of the world but I now see things differently. Now I embrace winter and look forward to the
holidays with anticipation because I finally realized that memories, good and
bad, are the fabric of the crazy quilt that make up my family’s history. I know everything will turn out all right
and this year, like past years, will just be one more story to add to that
family quilt.
AT
THE END OF THE DAY...it’s a time to remember that we will always be family and
that doesn't mean joined at the hip...it means joined at the heart.
