And So We Gather

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A phenomenon takes place every Thanksgiving with clan Lewis (no we are not Scottish, although my wife traces her roots there...but she married into the clan). My side of the family (my mother, three sisters, myself and our spouses, children, their spouses and their children) gather for Thanksgiving.

 We meet at either one of my sister's homes or our home, all 20 of us, and we eat, laugh, share, remember, cry...and eat some more. Friday morning my sisters and I, along with our spouses, go out to breakfast and catch-up, without the kids and Mom. Plus, we review Mom's status and make plans for her. (She's 81 years old and doing well, although we did have to take the car keys away from her - except for local trips to the grocery store, the doctor, and to Walmart.) Hmmm...in 30 years will my kids go to breakfast and make plans for me?

In the past the children would do a live comedy/drama. Then they moved to film: story-boarding, shooting, editing, and presenting their creation for the adults. Now most of them are adults themselves so they are content to just hang-out and not feel pressure to entertain. But we gather.

Sometimes one or two of us can't make the trip because of  work commitments. Sometimes we have to cut the weekend short to get back to our churches (one of my brother-in-laws and I are both pastors). Once we had to postpone our Thanksgiving because of a December wedding of my nephew's. But still we gather.

And it's already begun for this year...all my kids (one with a wife and daughter) are home, my Mom arrived on Monday, and various family members will arrive at various times from various places on Wednesday (one nephew flying in on Thursday from Texas).

Once again it will be an excellent Thanksgiving, as stories are shared, food is consumed, changes are celebrated, and memories are made...

And so we gather.

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