Summer Solstice Moon
Little feet pounding up and down the hallway. Non-residents in the steam bath. A dining
table set for six. Cartoons on the tv. Visitors coming to visit the visitors. A storm of energy. Talk about extravagance.
Rigel, our most wolfhound-like dog, likes to go into the entry passage between the garage and the kitchen to lie down. It’s her safe place when thunderstorms approach. She was back there last night and Gabe, 5 years old, looked at her and said to me, “Your dog is lonely.”
Gabe is all frenetic energy. Running, opening, closing, activating electronic devices of all kinds, carrying this from here to there. Banging on the piano. (right now in fact) Switching his interests like mercury contacting an electrical lead. He has mosquito bites, all swollen a 
bit more than I would find normal, probably due to his hemophilia. When he came, three sacks filled with factor came with him and went into the downstairs refrigerator. The factor adds back the clotting factors he’s missing in his clotting cascade.
Ruth has her energetic side, too. She’s 7 after all. But she said to me, “I read all the time.” She also recognizes onomatopoeia, alliteration, negative numbers and has a shy eagerness about learning. We also watched her bowl a 195 on the Wii, then proceed to win a tennis match. Her small body flows with grace. In addition, and perhaps most tellingly for her future, she designs. Dresses. Which grandma then makes. Her flare for color and shape surprises me.
Her parents are friends of mine. We talk, often like college students, late into the night. Jon and I dissected the American political economy last night. Jen and I discussed the strange relational behavior of her psychiatrist uncle. They’re teachers, Jen elementary and Jon art for elementary kids. This is serious work, formative for our future, and yet also frustrating with high stakes tests and the reality of working with Latino and African-American kids coming from poor homes.
Mark, too, is still here. He passed his driver’s license test yesterday and now will sport a 
Minnesota driver’s license as he travels the world. His money is here as well. So, in some defining ways, Mark has become a Minnesotan though he describes himself a warm weather guy, having spent most of the last 20 + years in either Thailand or Saudi Arabia.
As often happens when family gathers, I find myself wishing we were closer together. When I grew up, my whole extended family on my mother’s side lived within a radius of 40 miles. This allowed constant interaction that kept family life rich, but, also mundane, ordinary. Now, it happens in these episodic bursts, the Stock Show in Denver, the occasional visit here, other times in Denver. Mark and Mary come from time to time.
These infrequent family visits, supplemented in a powerful way by Skype and Facetime, represent the new reality for many. I don’t know whether it’s better or worse, but it is different from the way I grew up, though I suppose I should add that my Dad’s family was spread around: Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia.