Gather
I don’t think I’ve ever realized it before, but my life has become one of gathering people together. That surprises me because I love time by myself — reading, walking, writing, being out in nature. And even though it sounds like a contradiction, both are true. Mickey and I love to entertain, whether it’s on stage or at home preparing a special meal or sitting around the fire pit. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes gathering together so meaningful.
For me, it’s the pauses. The moments between the words, like the white space on a page. The times when we can’t find the right word and we look up to the sky as if it’s written somewhere in the clouds. Or when we sit around the campfire and stare into the flames. Gathering together creates time and space to notice the subtle expressions of another living, breathing human being. It’s the sighs, the tears welling up in a loved one’s eyes, the rise and fall of our voices and a million other things.
I also love the random thoughts that spill out in our conversations. This past month I took a drive to Colorado to see my grandkids. After I'd been there about three days, my grandson climbed up in the chair across from me at the table and asked “Where’s Mickey?” The question took us all by surprise because I had already been there a few days. But he thought of it at that moment and said it. It reminded me of the time when my nephew asked my Grandmother, “How’s Farris doing?” This led to a long awkward pause because Farris, her husband, had died two years prior. As my nephews face turned red, my grandmother kindly answered that he was gone. The moment was so innocent and yet so funny that I had to walk away as I tried to hold back my laughter.
Spontaneous moments like these are the ones we remember years later. They keep it real, reminding us we are all human and not to take ourselves or life too seriously.
When we gather together we create a container that holds the experience. Like our ancestors gathered the harvest in baskets, when we gather we hold each other’s lives, momentarily.
What do you love most about gathering together?
