advent journal: what it means to be family

Tonight after work I'm driving to Asheville to meet Ginger, who is driving from Birmingham with her parents and our other two Schnauzers who have lived in Birmingham since we moved south. Originally, they were only going to stay a month, but they were so helpful to my father-in-law as he lives with Alzheimer's that we have left them there. I will bring Reuben, my father-in-law, and Lola and Gracie back home with me while Ginger gives her mother a few days away as our Christmas present. (I wrote a poem about him here.)

When I get home tomorrow afternoon, I will spend the evening here, with Reuben, waiting for word about my brother's surgery to remove a tumor from his spinal cord. The surgery will not be over until about nine tomorrow night. I can't get to Dallas because I need to be here. Somehow, between Dallas and Asheville and Durham, we are all together, thank God.

This is what it means to be family.

Peace,
Milton