Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
A reunion
It’s the Fourth of July weekend and friends and family have traveled to be at a reunion – part family and part good friends. I was invited, so off I went to Blackburn Park in Webster Groves in search of a pavilion full of familiar faces. I parked at the wrong end of the park and walked to a pavilion. The closer I got, the more I realized that I would be joining the wrong party if I kept walking toward the group. Out came my smart phone and a quick call to Jackie instructed me on where I should be.
I pulled into a parking spot near the right pavilion. Walking towards the group I began to identify people I had not seen in at least two decades. Many of those people were Jackie’s friends from High School, all grown up. To me they look just the same as the last time I saw them – young and vibrant, only now accompanied by kids of their own. Their names popped into my head which is a victory in itself. We exchanged hugs and I marveled that they have stayed in touch since 1996, when they graduated from Webster Groves High School.
But there were connections from even farther back in the mists of time. When I married the children’s father I inherited a whole family full of wonderful and fun people. Most of them are cousins with a rich history of stories about family doings and family member quirks. While I was married, many of them were pretty young so I watched some of them grow up. After our divorce, the friendships lasted, although I rarely saw them. Yesterday it was like no time had passed at all and we talked and laughed together and caught up a little with our lives these days.
The event was planned by my ex-husband and his wife. That I was invited made me appreciate even more our years of raising our kids together and learning to live comfortably with a new relationship. There was no sense of my not belonging in this reunion. My two grown children were there and so were my grandsons. One of their cousins came from far away and brought her children – and of course we had to talk about how I had been the first one to see her after she was born in June of 1979! She was born at the hospital where I worked, so I had a chance to see her being wheeled to the nursery. That was 43 years ago. Time really does fly.
I guess my point is that the fractured lines of a divorce do not have to stay that way. For me, as an only child coming from a very small family, I stood to lose the most when we separated. Despite the anguish that inevitably comes from the whole process, we have managed to be, well, cordial at first. Over the years that has morphed into a friendly relationship with each other. What a blessing.
So, on this Independence Day, I will celebrate the kind of togetherness that results in a happy reunion of diverse, yet kindred folks. That’s what happened yesterday in Blackburn Park in Webster Groves, Missouri.