I Really Do Like These People I Love

On my solo long drive home, my mind evaluated the last 48 hours. I had traveled to a surprise birthday party for my Aunt. The celebration of turning 80 is truly a milestone to be noted. The gathering was more of a family reunion than anything else. Turning 80, I can see where the best gift is being surrounded by your family. It reminded me that heritage and family is the most important gift one can both give and receive.  As I sat there eating BBQ, it hit me like a truck, I really do like these people I love.

Our family comes from all walks of life, we have all had been filled with tragedies and blessings. What started on my grandparent’s farm in Tipton County, Tennessee has branched out in many diverse directions. We are all different unique individuals which can be directly related to the path our parents took off that farm. The only things that binds us together is the love we have for one another. A love that is strong and like nothing else. A love that does not judge but only accepts, welcomes, and embraces. A love that refreshes, recovers, and restores us when life beats us down. We are young, we are old, and time has worn us all down a bit.  In our daily lives, we are almost strangers. Strangers only in the fact that my cousins have no concept of the town I live in, what I’m like at work, or how I spend my time nor do I know such small details about their daily lives.

We say we only see each other when we gather at the funeral home. Sadly this is a true statement but that is when we need the strength of the love of family the most.  When a single life has been taken from our family, we come together. It is coming together at our worse that reveals our best. When death and tragedy sting us, there is something powerful about coming together as a family. Our family has a unique resolve about it. I can’t put my finger on it but everyone knows it’s there. We have had more than our share of tragedies, broken relationships, and setbacks. However, we somehow always have each other’s backs. If anyone needs anything, many stop what they are doing and come running to help. We have been tore up, messed up, and beat down but our family is consistently there to pick up. If an outsider picks a fight with one, you get the whole clan. It’s who we are. Love has made us all strong and tough.

It was obvious the years have dwindled us in numbers. So we gather to reminiscence of the memories we hold tight and treasure.  We laugh at the hairstyles and play the game of “who is this” looking over old photographs. We eat. We have awkward moments when someone mentions those who have died, moved, or divorced out of the family. We brag about our kids. We eat some more. Together as a family we have battled cancer, addiction, loneliness, poverty, unemployment, and every other ills of this world. We may fuss, cuss, and discuss but like everything else, together, we move pass it. Then we eat again.

Unfortunately not one person in our family is a billionaire. (If anyone hits ten digits, don’t forget me) We started on a small cotton farm when a young man returned from the war and tilled the ground and started a family. He worked hard to just to support his family as his children picked cotton.  That Liles family grew and spread out far, wide and deep. The harvest was something money just cannot buy. It produced acceptance, unity, strength, resolve and most of all love. A love that may lie dormant until we gather again. A heritage that reminds us all that there is nothing in this world better than family. We can’t choose our family but God has blessed me beyond measure with the one I have. Because I acquired a love and strength that the world can never ever strip away.  Until we gather again.