Writer's Block: Family Is…
There's a man with blank eyes and a strange smile on a couch I've never seen in a picture attached to an e-mail I got earlier today.
He's thin and he's changed. He looks old like he has never looked old before. It's been months, but it looks like years. There is so little left there, and I never want to have to see it again.
I think maybe the smile was supposed to make me happy. Supposed to make me think he's happy. But all I can see are those vacant empty beatty little eyes. Once there was intelligence and thoughtfulness and kindness in them. Now there is nothing there now.
I heard that we believe in God because as humans we have the unfortunate ability to understand death. Not enough that we're comfortable with it, just enough to scare us to no end. And God is our solution.
I wish I could fake faith. But even that would offer little comfort. He's not dead, so if there is a God, he's not with Him yet.
So...where the hell is he? Who in the hell is this man on the couch? Family. Family is... that stranger on the couch. And because he is family, we just keep doing whatever we can to do to keep a smile on his face.
I guess that's what family is.