MY FAMILY
This will be brief, for the story’s quite plain.
We’re a common family with a common name.
We were five in count for a whole lot of years
Then my brother got married, and new kids appeared.
So now we count nine, to each one’s delight.
And nine, for the time, feels just about right.
My dad was a Preacher, and he’s led the brood
Though thick and through thin, with passions subdued.
My mother’s the firm (sometimes strict) regulator,
The translator of what counts as upright behavior.
My sister, the youngest, “quiet” as a rookie
Grew up to be quite a tough little cookie.
My brother, the handsome and lovable clown,
Has a knack for picking you up when you’re down.
His wife, my new sister, is her own kind of force
She’s an addition I can fully endorse!
And the kids! Oh, the kids! I do love them so!
For being an aunt is the best job, you know.
I don’t ever scold them, I don’t tell them “no”
They can come to me whenever they’re granted furlough.
The little one, she likes sweet sweets topped with sprinkles,
Her eyes always harbor mischievous twinkles.
The older one’s smart, and so talented, too.
(But she’s nearing her teens and might soon come unglued!)
The middle, our boy, has the best little swagger
He’s sweet and eccentric, never a bragger.
It just so happens that our hometown coincides
With much more extended family besides,
Which makes for impressive holiday gatherings
With stories a-plenty and continuous blathering
On and on about this and that and the other
All of it code for “we love one another.”
We poke fun at each other, ride each one hard,
Watch movies together, grill out in the yard,
Tell jokes until everyone’s faces contort,
And exhort the reporting of feats of all sorts.
We sometimes unfortunately hold our own grudges,
Treat one another like each other’s judges,
But at the end of the day, with skill and aplomb
We find our way back to the place we call home.
Family is family, and family’s permanent.
It’s the one unchosen, unbidden determinant
We have in our lives. So I will take mine
Without amendment or redesign,
Without substituting any other
Sister or brother, father or mother,
Or anyone else we adopt for the day.
You could join, too. You can’t overstay
Your welcome in a family like mine.
(Believe me, I’ve tested it many a time!)
