Our Gift to You?

Dear Blog Reader.

I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. Although, I found myself slogging away, trying not to lose my mind as I lost another minute of daylight heading for the 21^st. It has been a long journey down an ever shrinking corridor this year. It was due to the extended period of cold and snowy weather that kept me off of my bike outside. Barring a major holiday push, I will barely ride 200 miles this month. Sure I have put 10 hours of gerbil time riding the stationary bike, but it is not the same. Late last week the roads were clear enough to get out. Riding at 8:30 with a full moon being captured and amplified by the snow cover, it was a beautiful night to be out there chugging away.

It’s okay. This too shall pass. Saturday, December 21 came, and we have swung around the corner of the winter of our discontent on the fantastic march towards June 21^st which ironically goes through March, that 31 day trudge through the mud. The anticipation is already starting to build. We are experiencing 4 more minutes of daylight today compared to the low water mark of Saturday. I can feel the stores of vitamin D rebounding even as I write.

I have been enjoying a few days of vacation before Christmas and the end of the year. It has been enjoyable. The children are home. We all got dressed up in our finest and went to a niece’s wedding on Saturday. Three inches of rain couldn’t dampen our spirits. The anticipation of the nuptials built over the weekend with events, card games, Christmas treats, gifts, and board games.

Several of the most recent celebrations have included a mega event for the family’s enjoyment the evening before. Kickball and entire family dodge ball were on tap for the previous get togethers. This wedding eve featured roller skating. It was fun . . . mostly. There were a few bumps and bruises; no broken bones during this outing. That is no mean feet as the aunts and uncles seem to have forgotten that they aren’t as young as they used to be. We used to bounce off of the floor and spring back up. Now we fall in slow motion, our faces contorted in the precognition of pain to come.

It is the result of evolutionary programming; this recognition that one set back could presage the end. Our ancestors, recognizing that they were not as fleet as they once were, drew back from the hunt. The comfort that while they didn’t have to be faster than the bear just faster than grandpa running from the bear, evaporated as they realized that they had become grandpa. A sore hamstring, a tweaked ankle, or a bit of nearsightedness could move you to up to entrée of the day for a bear in pursuit. In spite of the anxiousness generated from our hereditary warning system, we got out there. We held hands. We did the hokey pokey. We hoped that we didn’t look as dumb as that guy. And we teased the only person who had the good sense to recognize their limitations; the one who decided to sit this one out.

We are a family that is passing the generational torch. The aunts and uncles have moved into cautious middle age. We parents are letting children go; getting them through school; watching them get married; some having children of their own. Our parents are getting more attention. It is a shock when we find that they need to set this one out; a shock because they had always been so game to try anything. It is a bigger shock when the act of getting up on roller skates initiates the life before our eyes trailer that we had been saving for a special occasion; like driving into a retention pond.

As I sat in the reception hall taking in the beautiful bride and handsome groom, the rich texture of the décor, the anticipation of the hot fudge wedding favors, the dancing, the wonderful toasts, the gift table overflowing, I watched as pranks were schemed and carried out by aunts and uncles on nephews using Instagram as they frantically tried to figure out the new smart phone. I watched young cousins talk smack back and forth. I watched as an uncle created a tribute in limerick to the bride and groom. I watched as a son-in-law took grandma’s scooter out on the dance floor for a spin. In all of the craziness, I realized that the gifts that had been given were not in brightly wrapped paper. They were covered in the rich tapestry of life embraced, loved, and passed along. The gift of celebration passed to you.

Take care,

Roger