tonight I had dinner with my family
my family who sometimes drives each 
other mishugge but generally speaking
respects and honors each other foremost
with affection, stories, encouragement, honesty
for better and worse unconditionally we are
bound by something deeper than blood

 

by admiration and by a shared hope that 
each family member will thrive, appreciate
life's blessings, feel strengthened by our 
collective love and not take life too seriously
but still take life so seriously because when 
we are together the word precious is no longer abstract

 

it's amazing how people
can turn into pillars 
I was never allowed to have salt
growing up everything was diet this or that
my mom meant well and of course ballet didn't help
but there was a kind of prohibition of all things delicious
except for on Valentine's Day when cupcakes 
for breakfast was the norm

 

do you know that you are killing me
by telling me you are hopeless?
I am a lot of things but being an optimist is high
on the list of my ongoing goals and to say I
strategically surround myself with people more
optimistic than me as a matter of philosophy
and survival is an understatement

 

when hope is elusive and sadness abounds
there is nothing more comforting than 
being surrounded by people who've known you
the longest even if in the knowing there's been
bittersweetness the older I get the more I feel this
I don't think we mellow as we get older
I don't think we go more blind or deaf

 

I think our instincts become more sharply attuned
to truth and truth is never as clear as when 
you ask yourself: what would my family say?
even if every member would have a different answer
the answers combined like wonder-twin powers
form an indelible ink-tattoo a version of you seen 
through the eyes of love that no insecurity can erase

 

it's amazing how death
can turn on a dime