It was a surprise birthday party
my brother had turned forty
my sister flew in from Albuquerque
and we converged at his house.
Watching the video, twenty years later
was simple enough but when we counted
how many people were not around
on his sixtieth birthday we were surprised.
There was our dad of course, but he was the oldest
so we expected that but what a shock
to our solar plexis when we saw
our two youngest brothers, virile and strong,
were also gone. His younger sister-in-law
and her husband passed four years apart,
their daughter was raised by the grandmother,
now widowed since the video was taken.
It reinforced the idea, life is temporary
passages through time random at best
those here today may be gone tomorrow
but in the interim there ought to be laughter
good memories melded together
as people accompany one another
through every chapter and moment
in each other’s lives.
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