Everyone's Perceptions

 

    My siblings and I gathered this past weekend In New Mexico for noshing, talking, outings, walking and more noshing. 

   Sadly, It had taken 36 years for us to get together and just simply hang out. We had no social events or rites of passage that drew us together this time. We gathered just for "us."

    After we sufficiently caught up on each other's family, our chatter inevitably fell upon the past. Childhood memories, talk of our grandparents, parents, and eventually a traumatic childhood event that we all shared was on the table.

   Each of us recounted our own perceptions of the chain of circumstances that led up to that event, and its' aftermath.

    A big take away that weekend for me was how each individual's perception could be radically different, somewhat different, or even similar to my own- yet all of our perceptions were right ones. All of our views of the event are correct simply because they are ours. 

     And all three versions can be true at once.

     I don't think I fully grasped this concept before this get together. I'm not sure I fully honored their lens. Almost like puzzle pieces, they all (equally weighted), fit together to create the event.

    I am also grateful for this past weekend because it not only helped me understand my brother and sister, but also love them even more.

      A second big takeaway is the fact it's both fascinating and tragic to see who in a family survives a childhood trauma and why.

      But that, my friends, is a topic for yet another slice. . . .