Family Concentrate

 Uncles and cousins and mothers and grandchildren.
This weekend gathered them all for me in one day.
An unusual bitter-sweet concentrate of family
Distilled by a funeral and a birthday.



Distance and time would stretch us,
Yet something tethers us.
And in being together
We define ourselves again
Not just in DNA
But in common understandings
Shared memories
Childhoods that mattered to each other.

I remember
Houseboats and rides on handlebars
And tricky tricks involving noses.
And it's family.

Mapped it out with Mom
(Who's 88 today)
The tree of 20 that's grown from two;
Her and Dad and
Then out it grows.





















Glad for the chance to be cousins again.
Glad for one more birthday cake with Mom.
Glad for great grandchildren to sing silly songs with.