Family Matters

Generous to the fault of
inflicting intrusive stranger-status
upon a pair of brief and casual
interlopers, the genial hosts
firmly insist the welcome extends
to sharing this family's garden party
in recognition of the young lad's
graduation and imminent 
introduction to college. Names
and familial status exchanged as
aunts and uncles, cousins and
siblings, grandparents and friends
extend companionship and food
and drink pressed upon the uncertain
pair. Connections find their place as
teens roast marshmallows around
the firepit then file off for games
as the infant in the extended family
is handed off to one adoring member
then another, and group photos taken
to recall the event a half-century later.
Talk turns to apiaries and their sweet
product, gardening and valuable ideas
shared, then to travel and impressions,
and finally the politics of the land.
Until, parting, the reluctant guests
fully recognize the congeniality of
family ties and the functionality of
authentic collegiality, approachable
in human society capable of sharing
their emotional social wealth when
good fortune and fortuitously rare
serendipitous genes bear fruit.