The Glue

Aisha had a lovely post today about friendship.

I also am mostly struck by the peaceful picnic -- it was a lovely day -- surrounded by lovely people.  And I know I'll be back someday again -- both to the lovely city where-she-lives and to my lovely friend.

In every family -- there's someone who connects them all -- who holds them together.

In my ex husband's family it was his brother -- he connected us all
there was a part of the family who was estranged
a long ago slight that grew and grew into a full-on-feud.

but this brother
reached out
and built a bridge to the other side of the family
and was in the process of reconnecting them

He was the one with family parties
that brought us all together

the planner

the peacemaker

the glue

he stuck us together

and when he passed
ironically because he had no peace himself

the glue dissolved
and those connections faded

I wonder if he were still alive if I would still have a connection
with the family

I think he would have built a bridge to me
as well

When I read Aisha's post today
I thought

oh -- it's because

she's the glue

she's the thing that connects so many of us together

the bridge from our virtual lives
into our real lives

thanks for being the glue.