Adoption Day poem...

This is really my family--at least one part of my mom's side; I'm the 11th kid from the right in the second row-- my mom is 6th from the right in the 2nd row from the top. You can click on the picture to enlarge it...my grandmother and great-grandmother are there, too...

Family

Laughter, first.

but also

disagreement and compromise;

breakfast, lunch, and sharing.

Being together , being apart.

Soccer games and baseball

and drama, always drama.

Inside jokes and secret smiles.

Chores and jobs and the peripatetic car.

Washing windows, mowing lawns,

riding bikes and jumping rope;

and laundry, oh, the laundry!

Late-night movies, Saturday cartoons.

Hot chocolate on a winter’s day,

and popsicles in the summer.

Being part of something bigger

than yourself alone.

Teasing and scolding;

flower gardens and backyard swings.

Toys and hand-me-downs,

roller skates

and notes from the teacher.

Forgotten homework, remembered birthdays,

Grandma, Grandpa,

aunts, uncles, cousins.

Holidays and holy days,

Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day --

and

for all the rest of the year,

hearts around a kitchen table.

Family.