As you know, I am a fan of Twitter. I love that little social media outlet. I am often amazed at the large message that can be transmitted in 140 characters of less. My favorite from this past weekend (Thanksgiving weekend) simply said “Families are Complicated”.
It is a simple statement of fact families are complicated. The thing about family complication is the multi layers of complications. There is the ever present complication brought on by the mere fact that families are made up of human beings. Humans just have difficulty with interaction. Maybe this is caused by ego. Maybe the underlying issue is self-esteem or lack thereof. Maybe it is more primal and relates to dominance. My guess is that the combination is the real culprit.
The thing about families is that no two are alike. The dynamics are unpredictable. The older I get the more I realize there are no ‘Walton Families’ and yet we all have a little piece of ‘Walton’ in us. For me, my family may not lay claim to “Walton Mountain’ but I can lay claim to ‘Wright Mountain’ in the hills of West Virginia. It is the place where we laid my grandmother to rest a few years ago. Right next to her parents and their parents, etc. While I may live far a field from that life and that place, I know it holds my roots.
Families are complicated. They do not always seem worth the trouble or the time to make them work. However, they are our past and they are our future; both of which are really just a whole lot of ‘right nows’ strung together. We may have all grown up and moved away, but still in our hearts we’re yelling ‘good night, MaryEllen’ and ‘good night, Jim Bob’ down the hall. We’re just doing it via e-mail or unlimited cellular minutes.
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