The Story Of Us

Where do I even start? This has been a month of reunions. Early in the month I drove a couple hours north and two of my very old friends (we have known each other since our pre teen years) drove a couple hours south.. they live in Canada and we had a mini reunion in Upstate New York.  The friend on the left I hadn't seen in over a decade. We went out for dinner.. talked into the wee hours of the night and shared a breakfast before heading back home and vowed to not wait another ten years before we meet again.  Then M's cousin was flying in from Californian and visiting some friends in New York around the same time my cousin was flying in from London. So we made an evening of it. I brought the boys into the city after school, M is already in the city for work and we met his cousin (who we hadn't met since she was 10) for a late coffee. Afterward we met two of my cousins for dinner. One already lives in the city and we meet occasionally and the other was visiting from London ...

I was born and lived in Chicago up till the age of ten.   We were surrounded by family. Uncles and cousins. The grown ups were all immigrants.. living hard lives and trying to create a better future for the next generation. My generation. I can't put into words why that is relevant, only kids of immigrants know.. you live smaller lives, busy lives, you rely on the family around you. Even those who are not your family become your family. It takes a village.. and we had a tight village. We were lucky to grow up with multiple fathers and mothers.. so much love. We never did anything just the four of us.. everywhere we went we went as a whole.. loaded up in a van. In retrospect it sounds insane, we joke about it; but when you are little it's perfect.  But my immediate family, the four of us left Chicago when I was ten. Back in the day when there was no internet and hence no way to keep in touch. We grew up, drifted apart.. even when we did get internet, emails, texting.. the conve...