{"id":116082,"date":"2022-06-25T20:27:31","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T00:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/?p=116082"},"modified":"2022-06-27T20:15:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T00:15:34","slug":"poem-12-the-family-we-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/poem-12-the-family-we-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem 12. The Family We Choose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the virus<\/span>
\nwe gathered at my home<\/span>
\norphan islanders making our own family. Humpday board game nights<\/span>
\nquarterly whiskey tastings<\/span>
\nhurricane all nighters playing cards by candlelight, Cameron bedded down under the kitchen table, our feet all around him, keeping him safe, and feeling protected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanksgivings<\/span>
\nChristmas’<\/span>
\nNew Year<\/span>s’<\/span>
\nFourth of Julys…<\/span><\/p>\n

It felt like the family of my youth<\/span><\/p>\n

familiar faces dropping by unannounced<\/span>
\nimpromptu grilling<\/span>
\nfamily friends <\/span>
\npeople we called our own.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then there was no one.<\/span>
\nJust a Gramma and a Grandson<\/span>
\ntrying to be a bigger family than we were. <\/span><\/p>\n

Trying to adjust to our new<\/span>
\nquiet smallness. <\/span>
\nTrying to hold onto each other<\/span>
\nbe everything to each other.<\/span>
\nIt was hard for us both.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, a knock on our door <\/span>
\nbrought an unexpected catch up visit <\/span>
\nover tea and long remembrances. <\/span>
\nIt felt almost normal.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nIt felt like home again.<\/span>
\nIt felt like family. <\/span><\/p>\n

I must send notes <\/span>
\nwelcoming everyone back.<\/span><\/p>\n

I must sign them <\/span>
\nOllie Ollie Oxen Free Free Free!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the virus we gathered at my home orphan islanders making our own family. Humpday board game nights quarterly whiskey tastings hurricane all nighters playing cards by candlelight, Cameron bedded down under the kitchen table, our feet all around him, keeping him safe, and feeling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1305,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116082"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123965,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116082\/revisions\/123965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}