A short glimpse of one moment in-between
This glimpse of a stoic image is purchased with both love and fond memories. We were a young family. My father’s wives were young and beautiful. My brothers were agile, mischievous, delighted in their freedoms. My sisters were soft and gentle. Yet precocious and often nosy. These were the fond moments. When days were long and productive. When fruits were falling from the trees and all hands were needed to gather and preserve and eat to their fill.
In these in between moments. When the men were home for a time from their pursuits of war and the women and children were complete. These were the moments that weave a tapestry of the ideal life. Good and plentiful food. Children with not a care in the world. Wives comforted with merely a simple glance from their men. Music played. Poetry written. And nights spent in great company beneath the stars.
Now for one specific scene. The men were home after a months long journey east. The small battle nearly forgotten. The early summer harvests begun. Busy moments ensued. Father called for a feast. No occasion. Just a simple feast. Mother and her sisters were joyous. Although the preparation for a feast consumed a whole day the results were always worth it.
An early morning hunt produced rabbits and a small doe. The gardens were alive with green herbs and radishes and onions and root vegetables small and tender. Fires were lit. The meat was roasted. The dishes prepared. The tables set out in the courtyard. Flowers collected by the younger girls were wrapped into wreaths and garlands. And why not? Life is meant to be celebrated. Sweets were prepared with thin and delicate pastries drenched in chopped nuts and warm honey.
Everyone ate. Talked. Laughed. Hours passed. The sun set. The children ran and giggled. The older boys talking loudly of manly pursuits within range of the lovely young ladies. These lovely young ladies smiling and making eyes at the young men. All in a perfect end to a perfect day. And when the scraps were removed and the tables taken down and the fires reduced to dim orange waves on thick heaps of charcoal. Everyone was satisfied. Complete. A day well lived.
These are the moments that could be once more. These in-between moments could become the every moment. It is the way life is meant to be? It is an intriguing wonder.
Copyright 2023 Terran Cognito
