Counter Clockwise

Last year we spent Christmas in Arkansas. We went down and sprang Hazel from the nursing home for a few hours and had a lovely Christmas dinner with the "twice removed" cousins. Then we drove up to Des Moines to see my folks. We had New Years Eve in a rest stop in Ohio.

This year we did it the other way around. We went first to Des Moines where we had a truly tranquil Christmas. A tranquil Christmas is highly unusual. My mother only recently noticed that I am an adult and seems finally to have let go of the need to make Christmas into some kind of an "experience." My family was never that numerous to start with even with the various step-relationships so now that we are all grown up and some of us downright aged we just slap a wreath on the front door and call it Christmas. We exchange gift cards for the most part. The really ambitious among us make charitable donations in each others names. Don't get the impression it was not meaningful. This year I had the deepest sense of gratitude I think I've experienced in a long time. This year no one is actively dying. At least not any more than we each are every day. This year no one was facing prison time. This year no one asked me for medical advice.

In retrospect I suspect we are just gathering our energies for another good go around.