COLUMN: Tales from the Gravel Ridge – In the nature of gifts

We are into a new calendar year. That we are able to celebrate the beginning of a new year is a gift, one which we should never take for granted. There is something in the nature of being validated in having been able to close the door on the previous year, complete with its history of events, and beginning all over again in a new year. It is not to say that the chapter we have closed was necessarily one without challenges. The beauty of the gift of a new year is that we can take a deep breath, and try to begin a new chapter. What the closing of the door to last year did for us, was to open a door into an entirely new year.

If the old year holds memories of countless events that fill us with joy and gladness, we can celebrate with abandon, knowing that regardless of what the future brings, we will be able to draw strength from the well that has nourished us in the past. That well has the potential to support us in ways that we may not yet have experienced or considered.

All of us, whether we recognize them or not, receive gifts day by day. That’s not to say that these gifts are necessarily easily recognizable, or that, if we were asked, we would desire to receive them. The gift lies in the fact that along with what it is that we are receiving, we are also provided with the capacity to function within the context of the circumstances under which we receive it.

When I was approaching my teens, I received a Christmas gift from my parents that left me feeling a little less than happy. My mother, astute as she was, sensed that I was somewhat despondent and broached the matter with me.

The gift I had received was a photograph album. It wasn’t that I had no use for an album. My older siblings had cameras, and I had already received photos that would fit nicely into the album. What concerned me in my preteen years was that the album appeared to be not in pristine condition. To my young mind it had the appearance of having had a previous owner. In other words, I thought it had been purchased in a second hand store. My mother was able to assure me that the album was purchased from a local retail store and that it was not a previously owned item, even though it wasn’t in an altogether flawless condition.

Now, many decades later, the beauty of that gift has special meaning for me. I still own the album, and it contains photographs that I treasure for a variety of reasons. I am nothing short of amazed at how hard our parents tried to make special occasions memorable for us. That blue album with gold lettering on its cover, and black pages providing a background for priceless photographs is a treasure that serves to remind me of the depth of my parents’ commitment to us their children.

The traits and skills, along with the life-style that our parents modelled for us are also gifts that I should never take for granted. The gifts we received from our parents over the years were not limited to providing for us in physical or material ways. They passed on to us life lessons and customs that had been given to them by their parents, along with the faith all of them held dear. Our parents also passed on to us what they had freely received from their parents, being the genetic material that made them and in turn us, who we are.

Our parents enhanced in each other what they had received. I am profoundly humbled when I reflect on my mother’s phenomenal emotional strength and resilience. My father’s mathematical skills were excellent. His love of music, which was passed on to us in various ways continues to warm my soul. I think everyone in our large family could carry a tune, and all of us were engaged musically in one way or another over the years.

Above all, my parents’ love of family overwhelms me with gratitude.

If one is a member of a large family, funerals will inevitably be a part of our history. When we returned to our Rosengard home on August 29, 1959, following our father’s funeral, it was my very youngest brothers who were outdoors sitting in a circle singing songs appropriate for our circumstances, accompanying themselves on guitars. In more recent years, we have continued in a similar mode, all of us finding meaning and comfort in singing as we mourned the passing of members of our family.

How could we possibly fail to cherish the gifts we have received.