As a child, often times when you hear your parents mention a trip to a family gathering the feeling you get isn’t always a favorable one. The family is packed into a confined space for an untold amount of hours, with something always going wrong with the car somehow making the already unbearable trip that much worse. When you finally arrive, uncramping every muscle in your body, you’re met with innumerable relatives who you don’t remember from the previous encounter that seem to enjoy making your life as awkward as possible, making jokes at your expense, pleasantly reminding you of a part of your life that you wish you could forget. This is the family gathering that we all expect and have grown to dread. It is an eventual part of life, and we all try to forget the unpleasant memories as fast as we can… or do we?
Imagine this: Four brothers meet for the first time in years at their mother’s house, some with kids, and some without. As the brothers begin to make small talk the youngest children begin to run around outside spraying each other with water guns. Slowly whatever madness possessed the younger children spreads to the older kids, beckoning them to join the water fight. The adults, sensing the potential for utter disaster, cautiously make their way outside only to be sprayed with water, thus sealing their fate. Soon all is chaos with adults, teenagers, and children all running around with water guns, hoses, and buckets attempting to make someone a little bit wetter than themselves. There’s something special about this moment, when children and adults behave the same, where there is no judgement on how one acts. This was a moment that I’ll never try to forget, but rather a moment I’ll try to remember as long as I can.
As we grow older the family gatherings change just like us. Instead of happening what seems like every other month, they begin to occur every few years. Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins that we used to dread seeing become people we actively seek out at these events, having built a bond over the many jokes that you realize now, were actually made at their expense. In a grand turn around that may have taken more than a decade, the family gatherings are now events you look forward to. Yet what changed, was it you, or was it them?
It was both really. Time passes by faster than any of us can ever imagine, stealing moments away like paper in the wind. It is not until we grow older that we begin to realize the moments that were passed up, or not acted upon. Rare moments are able to be savored and enjoyed more fully. Instead of wishing away this time we begin to long for it, wishing for it to come back to us even though we know that is impossible. Seeing family is no longer a feeling of burden, but a blessing, for who really knows when the next time I’ll see them all together is?
Glancing over at my cousin while I finish this paragraph, it makes me glad that I was able to come down to visit them and be a part of their life if only for a small amount of time. I have no doubt in my mind that they will ever forget this weekend. It’s just like my grandmother said at the beginning of this family get together “These are the times that they’ll remember years from now. These are the times when memories are made”.
