Homecoming

Over the years we've always gathered,

kids and dogs and cackling

as food gets from stove to table.

We are an odd bunch, 

a gathering of differences with a common history,

and I always enjoyed the variety

of the bloomings.

The over-arching umbrella of Family

should be wide enough

to accommodate all.

The good will should always be

a given.

This year we'll do it again,

but the older I get, the more bittersweet 

the gathering,
some new faces added,

some old faces absent 
from around the table,

some by death,

some by choice,

which makes the empty spaces 

painful to a mother's heart,
wondering how many
more homecomings
will there be,
and will the next time
we're all together
be at my funeral?