Families And Fires

As we sat around a campfire with most of our family near we reflected on the changes we've all been through this year. An engagement, a wedding planned, Amy starting a business of her own… A new job, a drivers license, a lot of trips…how we all have grown Then we did what families do when they gather as everyone gets a little older… we sat around…we talked…we laughed…shoulder…to shoulder…to shoulder. As I watched the faces of my family radiating in the fire light…enjoying the fire's heat I thought how sitting around a campfire is a perfect place for a family to meet. How a family and a campfire have many traits they share… How the basic framework of both are created with great care. How you try to make both perfect…get everything just right… so once you light the fire…it will burn long into the night. How every flame in a fire, like every member of a family, starts out hesitant and slow How both need to be fed and nurtured if they ever are to grow. How each member of the family shines with their own unique and individual flame… How no two fires, like no two families, will ever be the same. How sometimes one flame, one family member, will burn a little brighter… but how we also know… soon another flame…another family member will have their turn to glow. How there comes a time when you are older when you sit back thinking you built this fire right… how every flame…every family member…is burning long into the night. And across the flames your family members know that look… know there's no need to inquire as to why the smile on your face shines even brighter than the fire.