Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We celebrated our daughter-in-law's birthday last night here. In the past we would have everyone out to dinner, and with eight adults and four kids it would feel like a real party, even though our daughter and granddaughter in another state would not be present. Now that daughter is gone, and our ex son-in-law and granddaughter cannot come because of covid, the expense and the time off. So it was just our younger son, daughter-in-law and grandson, but we tried to make it fun. I pulled out party hats and plastic leis, and we ordered food delivered from a favorite restaurant. The food was delayed, but we got it still warm, and on their way home they dropped off a part of the cake for our younger daughter, her husband and two kids. But everything is so complicated, and enforces the sense of being splintered as a family. The same will hold true for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and from the discussion at my women's group yesterday morning, each of them is torn in the same kinds of ways. Maybe they can see one kid and the grandkids, but not the others. The sense of FAMILY is blurred. So the absence is always with us, even in partial togetherness. I know there are people in our country ignoring safety and gathering in large groups, defying caution. But I could not do that without feeling the risk to myself and some of my kids who have health issues. I'm bound to be torn. And at this moment I'm feeling sadness for all the families in this country, but especially those completely isolated from loved ones or without people who care about them. I hope we do a better job of engaging with them so they don't sink into despair. We should have calls to these people, as we do for voting. I wonder if anyone is doing this.