...they pull me back in

Last weekend, Manfriend and I Amtrak'd ourselves back to my homeland, the southwest corner of the Mitten State, to attend a wedding reception for my uncle and his girlfriend of four years, who tied the knot last month in Colorado. The usual suspects attended: my family; various aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins' spouses, and second cousins; my late grandfather's half-siblings; and my grandmother's two living brothers. These three are the oldest members of our family, and it was great to see them together. One brother, the youngest of the six kids, has been living in a nursing home for three years, and hadn't left in the past eighteen months.

When he saw my grandma, tears began streaming down his face. Pushing her walker, she moved slowly over to his wheelchair and bent to hug him. We all wiped our eyes as they held each other for several minutes, talking and enjoying the sight of each other. I don't know if they'll meet again in this life.

When I left for college eight years ago, I was trying to carve out my own path in the world, far from the influence of my parents and the small communities in which I had been raised. I'm beginning to find, however, that I gravitate toward my family like a moon held in orbit by a planet's mass. I know some of my friends better than I will ever know some family members, but taken as a whole, the history and the ongoing bonds and traditions of family exert a powerful force. I imagine that this will always be true for me, and I'm glad to share these connections, while also being able to live a life of my choosing.


Reading: Unbowed, by Wangari Maathai (fascinating!); A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn (amazing!).

Just finished: Drinking Coffee Elsewher, ZZ Packer (great!); Chambermaid, Sarai Rao (terrible!); and The Keep, Jennifer Egan (so-so!).