Family Time

May 26, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

outside
writing morning poetry
in the afternoon
listening to the sweet melodies
of trains and planes and crows above me
and the puppy pacing to keep up with everything that needs investigating

i do kind of wish we would have spent more time outside
before the weather turned from mildly warm
to HOT
and this isn’t even the hottest it’ll be
not even close

but
we’ll deal with the sweat
and embrace the sun
[or hide underneath the sail of shade]
and let the puppy play with us
and keep the cat
well hidden
inside
from afternoon
outside time

November 26, 2021 (part two)

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it always seems to be
the most uncomfortable room
that folks congregate into.
the coldest,
without squishy chairs,
(or distractions
from family
from conversation
from time spent together).
and we can’t help it
if
this is the room with the best table
for poetry-writing,
for programming,
and closest to the coffee machine
for an endless supply of
refills,
and the room where there is space
for projects,
for light saber lessons,
and where the view is the sunniest
and most green

November 25, 2021 (part two)

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there are sad firsts:
first thanksgiving without big family
first thanksgiving without talking with my dad at dinner
first thanksgiving spent traveling

and then

there are the fun firsts:
first thanksgiving with Kip’s family
(first time all family and partners in one place at one time)
first thanksgiving solidly baking pies all day
(instead of just treating it like a social get-together)
first thanksgiving learning new traditions
(ones that the rest of the kids know so well they can recite lines from memory
before the muppets even start speaking)

and

first thanksgiving that i’m doing my best
to
appreciate family,
but hold them accountable,
and to remember the root of the ‘first’ ‘thanksgiving,’
and everything/everyone this country is built
on top of.

November 24, 2021 (part two)

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Family means so much
to so many people

my genetic relatives profess
Family
as the utmost of all people
those who have your back no matter what
the only humans you can truly count on
(most of them still live within a thirty minute drive of each other to this day.)

my friends, my community, unaccepted within their blood kin
find Found Family
to love them
without reservation
without expectation
without conditions
and count on each other

i am lucky enough to have both
blood and non-blood relations
who love me
unconditionally
but that brings with it
division of time
of love
of feelings
of celebrations

(and it is only the Family from birth
who saw me grow as i did
which is sometimes a good thing
and sometimes a not so good thing;
and there are memories,
sometimes lovely
sometimes hard
when in their company)

but

there is an awfully grand sense of growing
when i am able to fully help with the labor
i only ever messed up or ignored
as a child;
and to be able to pass that on to
the children younger than myself…

that feeling, it’s

Indescribable.

November 22, 2021

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the joyful teasing
the conviviality of being around each other
the discussing
planning
problem-solving
the sharing, watching, playing
the family.

~~~

observation;
my downfall
[/upfall?]

~~~

can i
just
be good at acting
[on my own]
without needing such guidance
to stop overthinking?

[please???]