Dancing on the Green

It wasn't entirely spontaneous, as family gatherings go. 

Once every couple of months, my older sister visits the parents: Dad in the family home and Mom in nearby assisted living. My sister holds the financial power of attorney, a role for which she is eminently suited. 

My younger sister, her husband, and one of their teen daughters were up from northwest Georgia, visiting his parents and ours. 

And the dance band for which Dad is a vocalist had a gig, performing on a Friday evening at the band shell on the green in a planned-village community not far from where Mom and Dad are.

The plan was for both sisters to attend the concert on the green, together with the niece, her in-laws,  and my mother. When I learned of this plan, I wanted in, and said so. As we all began to gather on the green, we learned that Mom was just not feeling well enough to attend and sent her regrets, and so the rest of us, a bit wistful, gathered anyway.  

Over the course of the two-hour performance, with the weather beautifully cooperative, we enjoyed the band, the singing, and the crowd. Some of Dad's exercise buddies from the YMCA came, including Patty, exuberantly dancing to the music. At one point, I slipped off the green to the sidewalk and stretched my legs. Coming back in at a side gate, I passed a man with a service dog, and we had a nice little visit.  

And small children, as they do, danced, ran, cartwheeled, chased one another. With complete freedom. My sisters and I commented to each other: Reminds us of us, once upon a time.

It's a lonely and vulnerable space, sometimes, when one of a couple is in assisted living and one is still in the longtime home. As we gradually returned to our own homes the following day, after tender and vital time together, Dad reflected. 

Saturday evening, maybe 24 hours after the family gathered on the green, we received an email from Dad. He spoke of how the love "bathed" Mom, "dementia notwithstanding," All of us will keep all these things, pondering them in [our hearts], in a paraphrase of the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 2, verse 19. 

Here, beloveds, is God. Love is a circle of energy, endlessly flowing, self-regenerating, drawing its power from the joined hands and the presence of one another. Keep all these things. Ponder them in your heart. Be present with God, whatever God looks like in the moment.