Ok – here we go again – 2nd draft, perhaps rougher than the first… I had just explored the various reactions this word evokes, commented on the writing process in general (loosely quoting Anne Lamotte as interviewed on the Brown Sessions), and vowed to plunge ahead with this work of spitting out this grain of sand that has been irritating me for years in hopes to find a pearl, and when I lifted my head from the keyboard it was all gone. So I follow the first rule of Christian publishing – JESUS SAVES – and retype…
Family Reunion – evokes visions for some of a dull gathering of people with whom you may or may not be related in the geneological web of families, listening to stories you may have heard before and pretended to be interested in at one time, eating lots of food and enduring talcum powder scented hugs and kissing paper thin cheeks of elderly aunties…
Class Reunion – madly trying to regain or reinvent yourself into a younger, hipper version of yourself so that those you meet there will curse themselves for not getting to know such a fascinating and charming individual 25 years ago.
Webster’s New World Dictionary (1990) defines the term as follows “reunion, n. a coming together again, as after separation.”
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (1983) defines it more extensively as follows: 1. a bringing or coming together again; a second union; a union formed anew after separation or discord; as a reunion of parts or particles of matter; a reunion of parties or sects. 2. a gathering of persons after separation; a meeting, assembly, or festive gathering, as of a family, familiar friends, associates, or members of a college class or society.
The more up to date dictionaries are stubbornly refusing to be found by our lazy modem, so though the world wide web might provide a cutting edge definition, for my purposes right now, these definitions will suffice.
Anne Lamotte said in an interview with Steve Brown (add link to Steve Brown Etc) that writing is hard word, that writer must write 3 or 4 pages in hope of finally on page 3 getting around to what they want to say...Thos of you who know me may guess at the direction of this post, but for some reason I have found every excuse not to get down to the writing... it has to do with considering the audience --
Cut that -- now I have to try to recreate what I typed in after my second technological mishap of the day, and since it's now after 10 pm with the increasing odds of having another mishap and the ensuing expletives escaping my lips, I am going to post after this paragraph.
The paragraph I wrote this afternoon was about how there is this tension -- wanting to be "reunited" with my best self and being reminded repeatedly that I have my feet solidly on the mud and clay of earthly existence (damn -- the words were so right before, and now they're gone!!) Oh well...stay tuned for the continuation of this gripping tale...
