Family Ties

We only have a few more days here in the desert before we pack up the few things we’re taking with us and head back to Denver. I’m looking forward to seeing my kids and grandkids, as always. But I leave here, also as always, with some sadness because I leave family behind in AZ as well.

Last night my brother came over for dinner. He was alone, as his wife was working and his youngest daughter was off doing grown-up college kind of things. He had called me the day before with a special request. Liver and onions. Go figure.

I was happy to comply, because both Bill and I like liver and onions on occasion, though I rarely make it for just the two of us. But I would have made my brother anything he asked for because there is no one I enjoy cooking for more than David. He loves to eat the things I make. And there is nothing a person that enjoys cooking likes more than seeing someone enjoy what they cooked!

But even more than the meal, I enjoyed the time we spent on our back patio yakking while he and Bill smoked a cigar and I waited for my onions to soften and my potatoes to cook. We talked about our kids and our grandkids. We reminisced about our favorite meals that Mom cooked us when we were small. We gnashed out all that was wrong with the world today. We talked and talked as the sun went down and the color of the sky softened and the birds became quieter.

That time with my brother reminded me that we have to appreciate every minute we have with those that we love. We can never get time back. Somber thought, but joyful as well if you look at it in the right way.

I read Killing Jesus this week (see yesterday’s book review), and one of the things that the book made me realize is that up until the very end, Jesus’ followers – even his closest friends – kept waiting for him to do something majestic, something to overthrow the regime. That last week, as they were walking to Jerusalem for what was to be the Last Supper and Jesus’ imminent death, John and James were arguing with the others about who would be Jesus’ right-hand men in the new regime following his overthrow of the Roman Empire. Up to the very end they didn’t really appreciate Jesus for what he was. Jesus must have wanted to slap his forehead and say, “Oy vey! Have you not listened to a thing I have been telling you about my suffering and death?” Clearly, the disciples eventually realized and understood it, but not until after Jesus and died and rose from the dead.

I am determined to strengthen my relationship with Jesus, working on it every day through prayer. And I am also determined to appreciate the people I love that are here with me now, and strengthen my relationship with them as well. A bit early for a new year’s resolution, but better now than never.

And, by the way, the liver and onions was delicious, but I won’t bother with the recipe. You won’t make it anyway.