Episode 5: Family Sound

Oddly enough, the place where we chose to rest is called Marathon.  According to the legend, the first person to run long enough to call the distance a marathon died from the effort.  Like, he ran himself to death.  Our trip to Marathon was, well, a destination, not of geography, but of the heart.  Emma needed to get out of town.  We needed it, too.

Having a week-long Thanksgiving Break isn’t lost on any of us.  Not everyone gets a break, much less one a week long.  None of that takes away from Emma’s need to get away.  From school, from the house, even from Bean (the dog).

Holidays are tricky, though. We’ve all heard of the awkward or difficult meal at Thanksgiving.  The rough conversations. The landmines of topics. The history. The grudges.

But Marathon. 

Emma needed the space. The water. The sleep. The silence.

But, of course, silence with family is nearly impossible. The noise creeps in, and echoes.  But the noise is close, genetic. The kind of noise that echoes from history, spoken from a voice familiar in an accent that is native to your speech.

So Emma got to hang out with Grandpa and Nana. To her, the unshakeable and unchangeable grandparents. 

And her cousins.  I’m not talking about distant/vague relatives.  You know, the kind where they all seem to have clothing older than you.

No, these are the ones Emma has had fun with. Risked her life with. Fought with. Cried over. Vacations. Easter. Thanksgiving. Christmas. That one week in July.  They don’t pick up where they left off because they don’t put it down.

So, Thanksgiving was a treat. Better than a turkey dinner—in Marathon, you can eat seafood on that day.

And did I mention that Emma is the only granddaughter?  She’s like her momma, that one.  She’s got her crew, for sure.  But there’s something about Emma—she’s gotta have good men around her, too.