Twenty-Four Years

On March 2, a niece posted this photo on Facebook, saying, “Look what I found.”
It is a photo from our wedding, posted two days before our twenty-fourth anniversary.

Twenty-Four Years

10 births, 3 deaths
or should I count 4?
if so, then
8 weddings, 4 divorces
and 1 on the way
associate’s, bachelor’s degrees earned, PhD ABD
houses bought and sold
surgeries, addictions, accidents, rehab
chemo, radiation, chemo again
one leg amputated
family farm sold
herd moved down the road, then released
a remnant preserved, transported west to carry on

we’ve welcomed the newborn, accompanied the dying
danced at each other’s weddings, picniced at each other’s graves
worked side by side and scattered across the country
talked every day or only occasionally
hung up on each other, rarely bothered to reach out at all
taken each other home, taken each other to court
stood by each other and stood our ground
broken each other’s hearts and offered shelter in the storm

we bear less likeness to the Waltons every year
no matriarch, no patriarch
no family home
face to face and miles apart
we spiral further away and out of reach
but we’re still family
connected by an invisible chord
not always nurturing
but colored by DNA and a resemblance
rooted in a people and place
that define who we are
bind us as one

2 March 2013