Love

I was talking on the phone this morning with my cousin Sharon who lives in the Bahamas. That photo of my mother and her grandchildren was taken in 2002 beside Sharon's pool. I've posted it before. It's one of my favorites. That's my daughter at age 7 on the left, my son at age 10 behind, my nieces on the right and on my mother's lap, ages 12 and 2. It was my mother's 80th birthday, and the family had come from far and wide to celebrate her. My cousin, whose house is a work of art, had offered her home for the party, and it was without a doubt one of the most charmed days in the life of our family. So my cousin and I were talking this morning about all manner of things, and then the talk turned to our children, their good hearts, family loyalty, quick sense of fun, and it occurred to us that this great blessing that is our children is the direct result of the great blessing that is our mothers, and their original family of six sisters and three brothers, the aunts and uncles we call The Nine. They passed on their good hearts, family loyalty and quick sense of fun to the next generation and the next. They set a powerful example for us, living their devotion to one another the way they breathed, unquestioned, so that we absorbed it without even understanding that it isn't always thus and how great is this gift they have given us.