Seventh Heaven

“Mom would have been in Seventh Heaven,” said one of my four brothers last weekend at the gracious inn next to the Smokies, where we had all gathered for a family wedding.

“Maybe that’s where she is right now,” I said.

Our mother passed away more than 20 years ago but we still think of her whenever we get together, especially on the rare occasions when all five siblings are present. “The whole family together” was her mantra.

Of course, she would not have been satisfied with gathering just her five biological children. Her family included our spouses (also all present at this occasion), and any subsequent available generations. But that kind of completeness got too complicated for her to pull off in her lifetime and we don’t obsess over it. She would have been happy to see just the five of us in one place—and secretly gloated that we are all still married. She would have regretted some of the health problems she has passed on to us, including a stubborn obesity gene. She would have adored the great grandchildren who were there, niece and nephews of the groom. She would have cheered the prospect of a happy marriage for her grandson.

And perhaps she did. Maybe Seventh Heaven is a place reserved for the dead to witness happy continuities in the lives they engendered.

Groom with cousin, nephew, uncle, sister

Sam has inherited a mischievous grin from two grandpas

    

 

My brother Marv's clan was all there