Armenian Christmas
(Dear EVERYONE If you haven't looked at Matthew's and my Chanukah postcards, they are on the ON BEING blog EVERY DAY for a few more days. A Chanukah Miracle)
For eighty five years Peter’s family meets once a year in someone’s home a different someone to see one another and celebrate Christmas. Children and grandchildren of the Turkish genocide they are his mother Arshalous’s family.
The first time I went thirty two years ago it was at his Cousin Gracie’s. I’d never been to a party like theirs. Shouting and laughing and eating and dancing for hours. The first year I actually didn’t say a word. But I ate.
This year we left early and drove with Noah and Chesray to Alexandria Virginia home of Victoria, David and their two children. Victoria has always been one of my favorites even though she is a Republican. I think she’s a Republican because of the South and maybe her family I’ve never understood why anyone would be a Republican. About half of Peter’s family are Republicans.
She married an identical triplet a literary triplet who writes poems. Peter’s family is warm and unexpectedly loud and generous. Everyone cooks. Everyone eats. We all have a good time. Many relatives have endured unspeakable tragedies. When they talk about the past they talk about Brooklyn not Turkey. They don’t say too much about their lives.
The older I get the more I try to understand what connection actually means how we all come to be connected what our responsibilities are to each another if we can broaden our idea of what family means if some differences matter more than others if being a good person is the same as wanting a just life.