Can We Go Back

The retrospect brings so many smiles, yet a guarantees a vast amount of tears. Family, when you say the word "FAMILY" what comes to your mind? Does visions of your older aunts, uncles, and cousins sitting up stairs in the living room laughing over lifetime stories come to your mind? Or all the younger brothers, sisters, and cousins playing in the basement as the family feast is getting prepared, does that come to your mind? When I contemplate on the concept of family, the word that comes to my mind is FOREVER. Family is FOREVER. Forever is a long time isn't. Forever consist of the past, present, and a hopeful future. FOREVER also consist of changes. Things change, feelings tend to get rearranged, and times get harder. But that is what your family is there for. Your family is there to ease all tribulations of life. So why is it that we tend to turn our back on them. Sure we get into arguments and sure there will be a great amount of things that we wont agree on. As those disagreements come along, we should never forget the principle of family. LOVE..Unconditional Love. I remember when my grandmother's house used to be packed full of family members. Some people had to sit on the floor to eat their dinner. I remember when Mom, Grandma, Aunt Terry, Uncle Omar, Gary, Karen, Uncle Kenny, Gine, Robert, Linda, Joyce, Unlce Man, Aunt Ellen, and Granny used to sit up in the dinning/living room all hours of the night laughing over stories and testimonies. While that happened, Cydney, Sean, Amber, Zoe, Chris, Seth, Lauren, Little Gary, Darren, Andrew, Spencer, and Khori would be in the basement having loads of fun while watching a movie. It brings tears to my eyes that it is 9:26, I am sitting in my basement by myself and have yet to see beyond my immediate family. It also discourages me to see empty chairs that should be occupied. Back in the day, when we prayed for the food, we could hardly fit everyone around the table. The prayer circle would stretch from the dinning room to the living room. Now, we only stretch around the dinner table. If a petty argument can seperate the two of the closes family members for two years, I wonder how far a simple "I Love You" could take them. Three short words that express a million and one feelings. I want to go back to over twenty smiles than just nine. Family, is too much to ask for me to see your face, is it too much to ask to remember the values and principles we lived by? Can we go back to when it was strictly just family? This summer, can we have a greatly needed family reunion? If anyone in my family or not in my family has been offended by this blog, I apologize. But it just comes to show that you know that I am right.