marcmas

from an early year, a small segment

Tomorrow is Marc’s birthday.  Marc comes from a large family and even his core family is large to me.  When I met him I could count all my blood relatives on my fingers, four generations worth.  His mother was one of six and she had seven kids by three different husbands. 

For the last six years or so all the different parts of it (in more or less completion) have used Marc’s birthday as the excuse to converge on Houston to celebrate everything...Hanukah, Christmas and not least, Marc’s birthday.  Sort of a Hanukaristmamarcmas.  It’s always been a three event gathering...pool tournament for the adults at a local pub, bowling party for everyone and then a party hearty at one or another of the brother’s homes.

Last year and this year, what with the economy and a couple of divorces in the family and (this year) the visit of one of the fathers (Marc’s, who has disowned us a story for another time), we are limiting it to the bowling party.  That’s fine by me.  Much as I love my adopted family, they have a lot of drama that seems to tag along with them, a lot of issues that should have long ago been shelved.

This is the one time of year for the core family, for the next generations to get together so as to know each other.  The family is scattered in Colorado and across Texas so the siblings and their children and grandchildren (as I said, in varying degrees of completion), gather.  We want the cousins to know each other. 

We bowl, we eat hamburgers and corn dogs and drink soda, we pass out gifts.  We will gossip about all the drama attendant on these affairs.  We are a presence.  

And if all goes well, Marc and I will be going to see Avatar on the way home.