I noticed that my sister posted on her weblog a family picture taken during my last trip to Arkansas. I'll post it on my weblog now, with thanks to her for making it available.
The fellow on the left is my younger brother, who is thirteen months my junior and yet light years my intellectual superior. The woman beside him is my sister, who is five years younger than I am, but who in my mind is still my "little" sister. I am the fellow on the right, while my father's wife is beside me. We stand before my father's house, where I lived from the age of 16 until I got my own place--home and yet not the place I grew up. My father must have taken the picture.
I think that it's sad, in a way, that so many great family photos get taken in connection with funerals (in this instance, our uncle passed away). I wish that more jovial celebrations also prompted such gatherings. Perhaps it is time for my family to host one of its infrequent family reunions.
I learned a few things during that trip. An Arkansas first cousin who is but two years my senior has a little boy I think of as barely more than a toddler. That young fellow is now serving in the military in the war zone in Iraq. Another cousin had a two year old girl I had never met, who was an angel named Lydia. I saw a dear first cousin, and then realized it was the first time in 25 years or so that I had seen her. Where did the time go?
Where does the time go indeed? So many people I should call or write. So many places to go and see. So much good to do, and so little good done.
Tomorrow is another day on which to begin.