Joy and sorrow intermngle

We have an awesome Boxing Day tradition of many years' standing -- one of our dearest friends opens their house to those us and other who've had too much family, or who have no biological family left to them, and we gather and watch old movies and exchange gifts and gorge ourselves on roast leg of lamb.

Even as I write this I am sprawled on the couch, blissfully sliding into a food coma.

This year there is sorrow for me at this season, as well as the many joys. My father is no longer with us.

Tomorrow morning GryphonRhi and I will rise early and drive to my home town for a memorial service for him. I know that many people who've known me my entire life will be there. I wish I thought I would remember more of them than I expect to.

Some of them I will be happy to see after so many years. Some I will even be quite amused if they show (my home town, while small, boasts a few celebrities).

And then there are also a few that I hope are NOT there. Sadly, those people are also my ... let's refer to them as kin, rather than as family.

But those of you who have spent any time at all with me know that I am almost constitutionally incapable of dwelling on negatives for very long. So shall it be with this -- I will look forward to the good things that the day will bring, and while I will accept the less-wanted things, I will not allow them to take precedence.

And I know that is exactly as my father would wish it, too.