Joy

I have an intricate, diverse family. There are steps and halves all over the place. And step steps and halved halves. But it’s all family and in the end, it’s all about love.

2010

My stepmother, who is no longer married to my father, took the photo above and wrote the poem below about the photo that was taken at my wedding, 13 years ago…and it holds true today, no matter who’s in the current “photo.”

Wedding Picture

There we are at my step-daughter’s
wedding. That’s me in the pale yellow
dress, in front of my husband and beside
my step-daughter’s mother. That’s my
step-daughter, on the other side of her
mother and next to her new husband. To
my left, here, this is my son, then comes
my daughter, then my step-daughter’s
adopted brother. Next to him is his
step-mother, who is my step-daughter’s
step-father’s new wife: that’s this person, here;
she is next to my step-daughter’s step-father.
Over here, on the other side: these are two of
my step-daughter’s new step-kids. The
others, here, are now my step-daughter’s
in-laws. So that’s the picture. That’s the
photograph. The people come out through
the development process. So does the
scenery. Not everything comes that way.
Shimmering unseen between us, there, with
our separations colliding, is something
additional. From, or into, each of us, and
tumbling around the corners of all things
known, invisibly, inscrutably, comes joy.

~ Elizabeth Elder

1997