SEASONS

Seasons greetings!  'Tis the season!  The season of change.  The season of our time.  The four seasons.  Each of these bring to mind so many different vibes and memories.  How about the season of relationships?  Both business and personal.  Every person experiences relationships which are long or short.  Familial in nature or from afar.  But, did you ever think about a relationship as a season?  

Some seasons are cold and brutal with forceful winds and rains causing us to hold our arms close to our bodies or hot temperatures causing sweat to leak from our pores making the body and mind react in rather uncomfortable ways.  We seek an equilibrium to balance ourselves.  We bundle up for the winds and shed our clothes often seeking shelter for refuge and a more pleasant environment.  Other seasons gradually change and are easier to accept and appreciate.

Relationships are like seasons.  Some can withstand the test of time and endure the onslaught of emotions and extreme variations and changes.  Some relationships can only exist during the most moderate of times.  Familial relationships can make the holidays a most unpleasant time or a most enjoyable and memorable time.  In either case, we carry the past of family to the grave with feelings of hate and remorse or love and tranquility.  

My family had pretty much shut me out when I was in my late twenties.  I was so different from them.  Our parents had divorced in my teenage years.  My siblings grew angry with the residual effects of their split and subsequent marriages to strangers.  My eldest brother could not seem to lead but, to conquer and divide the family and set the tone for decades to come.  Six of us wrestled with who we were and what would become of us.  I eventually reconnected with them almost twenty years later but, I decided the family relationships would be on my terms.  You see, collectively we were incapable of weathering the seasons of our past and could not see far into the future or appreciate our core.  We felt it far easier to turn against one another-choose sides-rather then embrace the divorce and subsequent changes.  

I realized all was okay and came to understand our parents did their best.  THEIR best.  Not what we thought they should have done.  Not everyone can appreciate the bonds of blood and family.  Not everyone can appreciate their work mates or neighbors.  BUT, what I can say unequivocally is I recognize all relationships cannot withstand the test of time or seasons.  I realized I can form a relationship and revisit that relationship in 8 or 10 years and pick up where we left off.  I can form a relationship and a simple phrase or word can destroy decades of friendships.  Relationships are like seasons.  They evolve and come back again in time.  Some relationships die in the extremes and some plant seeds which grow into eternity with the right nutrients and circumstances.  

It is a time of year for rejoicing.  A time to remember.  And, a time to look forward to a new year-a new day.  A fresh start to embrace the upcoming seasons.  A world of new ideas and establishing traditions.  New seasons of change and the seasons of memories and the realization:  not all relationships can withstand the test of time.  They don't have to.