This is how it goes sometimes.
A gal and a guy met in 1946. And a year later, they married. February 15, 1947, to be exact. That is when this little segment of my life started.
Actually, my life started at the beginning of infinite time. So did yours. Those two people I mentioned above are my parents. But they each had parents, and each of those people came from two other humans, and before you know it, these numbers grew exponentially back through history. Where we all started, and when… heaven only knows. But our “matter” make up…. had its start at the very beginning. Random? Planned? Hmmm.
Genealogy lets us see a little about the timing of things. I have researched my Dad’s paternal line back to a guy named Andreas Kronenberger, born in Germany, in 1720. I followed all the other paternal and maternal lines too. Other researchers freaking go back to Ooog and Pluhhd, it seems. Cave paintings I suppose.
But back to segment 1947. Yep, Mom & Dad. The met, fell madly, deeply, truly, in love. They wed. And then they started making babies. Seven. And that is where siblings come on the scene. Brothers. Sisters.
My siblings have know me all my life. But I have not known them for all of theirs. This comes with being the youngest. A perk, or a curse. I’m not sure which. Probably both.
But. There is something about the bond or connection you have with a sibling. It is where you started, after all. Sometimes, these relationships grow, and strengthen throughout our lives. Other times… not so much.
I am not sure what makes this blood bond feel so significant. Maybe it is spending an eternity with those same eggs and sperm in the making. When we consider, once again, how are parents go back to their parents, to their parents, and on…. we have been laying in wait a long time. (Sidebar: Speaking of eggs and sperm: I was pushed out of the way several times in the ovary. Just for the record.)
And then. Then. There are our parents.
It is a majestic existence we are a part of. Truly mind boggling and complex. Stephen Hawking has talked extensively on this. I recently read a lecture of his which made me woozy. He considers the question if time itself has a beginning, and whether it will have an end.
As the scientific evidence seems to indicate….. our big-honking universe has not existed forever. But pretty dang close. You see…. t had a beginning, about 15 billion years ago. And, according to Hawking… this is probably the most remarkable discovery of modern cosmology. Yet it is now taken for granted.
I guess the thing of it is….. We are energy. We’ve been around a long time, and we will be around for a long time. Simple proof is our genetic map backwards. That is merely the physicality of it. The spirit part is sufficiently enigmatic.
All I really wanted to do tonight was to tell my brothers and my sisters that I love them. We’ve been in this deal a long time together. I want to tell my Mom & Dad that I love them too. It will just have to be in another way.
And I believe it is quite possible. Given the boundless possibilities of our existence.