The Beautiful Blessing of Family to Love

It is Family Day in Ontario...

We bring out the best or the worst in each other

Through blood-bond (or bondage) of sister and brother

Of father and mother and uncles and aunts

Of Niece-nephew-cousins, and gramma and gramps

A lineage of names, frames and faces are we

Comprising the faction, that we call family

Fabric work of freundschaft, (relatives) of hand-me-down traits

Of stature, demeanor, chins, noses and gaits

Of quirks we don’t notice or question because

That’s just the way our family ‘does’ /was

A birds-of-a-feather Forever are we

By a genetic tether that we call Family

We banter and bicker, share laughter and tears

Because blood is thicker than water or years

We bear a fond bond, whether near or afar

Of a sense of belonging wherever we are

Because what makes ‘us’ transcends geography

Distance cannot sever cords of family

Of father and mother and brother and sis

Precious imperfection and terrible bliss

A beautiful chaos of ancestral ties

Grandpa Joe’s cowlick and Granny’s blue eyes

A come-from-a-long-line-of-proud pedigree

We are and will always be family

We are much more than mere faces in frames

Or leaves on a branch on a tree full of names

We are love-pray-for-and help one another

We are a thank-you God for father, mother

Where no one can take the place of you or me

When it comes to our part in a family

We gather 'round tables, 'round cradles, 'round graves

We celebrate triumphs and weather grief's waves

And wonder, where in God's wide world we would be

Without the dear people we call family 

Where, pray that we never lose humble sight of

The beautiful blessing of family to love

© Janet Martin

My first family

Photo Sept. 2023

Mom and dad and all ten of us...

(Celebrating my parent's 60th wedding anniversary)

My next family

After 35 years of marriage...

photo Nov.2023

Thank-you, Lord