It was a good week for me, if for no other reason than I got to catch up with two of my friends. Time spent with them is no insignificant thing.
This week, as the title clues into, I attended a funeral. It was my wife's uncle, and she was only a little more familiar with his family than I was; and yet, in spite of the circumstances (and closing remarks that both went on too long and included words that would have been better left unsaid), it was nice, because it was a gathering of family- and such a gathering hadn't occurred in my wife's life since her brother passed away several years ago. You know, I'll admit that when it comes to large gatherings, I tend to become quiet and less involved- it's just how I am; but regardless of what guise I put on, I love such gatherings, and it's nice to be around such folk- even the one's you can only tolerate for the few hours you see them. Even still in my mind, I visually remember many occasions when my family and I went up to my grandma's house for Sunday dinners, sometimes. Half of the fun was wandering through the dark, cluttered basement and the leafy overgrown backyard (and by word were those sunsets a thing to witness from the now eroded hill). The other half of the fun was looking forward to seeing my closest cousins and getting up to all sorts of fun hijinks. ...okay, I'll include food somewhere in the percentile of fun, cause MAN was there some good eating!
The hill has eroded away; the house has been demolished; that yard I spent many hours working in is little more than a cliff and a dirt slope; my grandpa has passed with my grandma is soon to follow; and many of those family members I saw so often have gone their own ways in life. I still occasionally have dreams of that house, even to this day. It would be easy to just go on saying how much I "miss the good old days", but in retrospect, I am just grateful that I had "good old days". I suppose everyone in their own way has precious memories that, no matter how dark the days get, nothing can ever take from them. I'm usually the kind who goes on preaching about just the opposite of what it sounds like I'm saying here, and tend to focus more on pushing onward and moving ahead. Truly, living in the past is the antithesis of what our purpose is and what we've been created for; but we were given memory for many reasons, and I believe joy is one of them. So, take a moment this holiday season, find that cherished memory that you've tucked away carefully in the attic of your mind, and take a moment to cherish it, and let it move you further towards the goals you seek.
I never really have a clear idea of what I intend to write when I begin these blogs, and now here I am sharing some of my most cherished memories. Alas, take it for however it helps you best. And enjoy this random totally out-of-context line I had to document from my friend this week:
Eh, Boise be damned.
Have a pangit holiday season!