An end is a beginning from an end
Sep. 9th, 2013 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morslaToday we ended an era, and hopefully started a new one.
We farewelled Andrew Bell: father to 8, grandfather to 22, great-grandfather to 23, and great-great-grandfather to two more - a sizeable clan who all were lucky enough to spend time with a truly remarkable man in the 95 years he was with us. I had wondered what will become of the family gatherings now we are scattered far and wide, but I found a place in the new "middle" generation, with something of a shock: we're no longer the grandkids of the family. Suddenly, we've become uncles and aunties - with a whole generation of nephews and nieces (once removed, but who's keeping count?) around us. Maybe there will be something that helps us to keep in contact after all.
The giant Christmas gatherings are in the past now, as smaller family groups now own that time of year - but that doesn't mean we all just keep drifting further apart. I'm exhausted from a day of running around after Ariadne and her new-found friends, but it's a good kind of exhaustion. I think I'd like to do this again.
We farewelled Andrew Bell: father to 8, grandfather to 22, great-grandfather to 23, and great-great-grandfather to two more - a sizeable clan who all were lucky enough to spend time with a truly remarkable man in the 95 years he was with us. I had wondered what will become of the family gatherings now we are scattered far and wide, but I found a place in the new "middle" generation, with something of a shock: we're no longer the grandkids of the family. Suddenly, we've become uncles and aunties - with a whole generation of nephews and nieces (once removed, but who's keeping count?) around us. Maybe there will be something that helps us to keep in contact after all.
The giant Christmas gatherings are in the past now, as smaller family groups now own that time of year - but that doesn't mean we all just keep drifting further apart. I'm exhausted from a day of running around after Ariadne and her new-found friends, but it's a good kind of exhaustion. I think I'd like to do this again.
