It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Due in part to all the traditions heaped upon it. The music, the decorations, the gatherings.
Tonight my family will gather with friends we call our Five Points Family. It is our annual progressive dinner. My youngest is 20 and we have been doing this since she was a preschooler.
We moved to Five Points when I was pregnant with her. Who knew then? Who knew that we would buy a house on a street where we would come to know and love four other families? Who knew the friendships would last our lifetime? Who knew?
I suspect that God did. I count this as one of the best gifts he has given us. Truly.
What makes a family? We do not use that term lightly. These are not simply friends. We have grown into a family. We even have a shared name. The Five Points Family.
It began in the mundane…kids playing up and down the street, just playing. It grew into shared celebrations. All the mundane time we spent together created memories that wove a history, this history fostered affection, the affection grew to trust. This fabric of shared memories, history, affection and trust is no lightweight cotton, this is a thick and tightly woven fabric that is as strong as it is comfortable.
At the wedding of one of the “children” I quickly composed a few lines that encapsulated this family fabric…
Once upon a time there was a special place in Redford…
where little rascals drove a blur, and played for the Stanley Cup, and grew strong in the Force by kicking the can. Autumns were festive and eggs were hunted and the night sky was bright in July. Grass would not grow there, but children thrived and so did love, and the harvest yielded memories galore.
Tonight I will wrap myself in the warm embrace of this fabric and thank God for the gift of friendship, for traditions, for my Five Points family.
What a gift that the “Five Points Family” still gathers today all these years later especially in these days of suburbia where lifelong neighboring seems to have gone by the wayside of global living. Travel and internet may have a way of making the world smaller but we are never closer than when we live and relate side by side over a long period of time. This recalls for me fond times of neighborhoods where we shared for but a moment a hint of such familial closeness. Thanks for sharing. Your words are like a warm fire on a cold night that those of us who harken for such connections can stand near for this little while to toast our hands before we move on.