I used to dread family gatherings.
Something about them just —
Ugh.
They’re too frequent,
and we barely even
know each other anyways,
so what’s the point?
— is all I can say
but, in recent years,
I’ve noticed something.
As we get older,
and move away from each other
to different schools around the country
and move on from each other
to lead different lives,
our bonds (somehow)
become stronger;
our memories (for some reason)
start to mean more.
And I see that you’ve noticed it, too:
in the way we started
greeting each other with more tenderness,
and laughing louder at the dining table,
and waving goodbye with bittersweet smiles.
Yet, the words I need to say,
they get stuck in my throat.
Today was fun.
Learning about each others’
thoughts and feelings,
likes and dislikes,
personalities and quirks.
Learning to understand
one another
in a way we never made an effort to
way back then.
I’ll miss you.
Maybe all it took was
physical d i s t a n c e
for us to bridge our
emotional distance.
I look back and
regret all those years spent
not appreciating each other
and recognize how close we could have been,
and now that I know you well enough,
I think that
we could be
friends.
Or at least,
the type of
family
you don’t dread seeing on holidays.
We should do this more often.
And I hold on to the hope
that another family gathering
is only a lifetime away.