the gift

  It being the Christmas season my thoughts just naturally turn to the past. I was trying to remember the last Christmas I spent with my immediate family. As near as I can recall that would have been Christmas 1965, give or take. I, of course, wasn't aware of that. We are seldom aware of the last of anything is my thought. Even when we know with almost certainty that it will be so, we cling to hope that it will not be so. That's true with the good stuff, not the bad. It's the nature of man I suppose; hope does spring eternal in the human breast. "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." (Epicurus) Your memories can never be taken, relived upon demand. Still in what may be a mercy our memories often only hold the good, the bad becomes blurry, gray and eventually disappear altogether. And my thinking is should I lose those memories I won't know that; another mercy bestowed by a greater power than man.

 It should be remembered that Christmas is about a birth. The gifts are in recognition of that gift. It is what was given to man that we celebrate. As with all gifts we are free to accept or reject that gift. As the years have gone by, I have had to say goodbye to those I shared that celebration with. Only their memories remain with me today. Still, they are all here, gathered in my memories. Yes, I try to recall the last time we all were around the Christmas tree together on that special morning when we celebrated the gift that was given. How little attention we paid to that is a bit shameful when I think about that, the celebration appeared to be centered on myself, on what I wanted. Of all the gifts I was given, only the one remains. It is the only gift that endures. It has endured for millennia! It is the gift of love, pure and simple love.