Old Emotions

This weekend was a wonderful gathering of extended family, with much reminiscing and laughter and some tears as well. We stayed near some of the family homesteads and so we got to see them all these years later. Our aunt carries the history of the family, and so we picked her brain clean of her memories. It was an absolutely awesome weekend.

When you stir old fires, you sometimes get burned. The emotions from the old days take over, and you can get caught up in those feelings. With our family, these emotions carry some sadness. Having lost our father so many years ago, you think that you have dealt with those old emotions. But it is amazing, when you place yourself directly into the memories, how they can surface so freshly if you haven’t fully dealt with them yet.

The healthiest way to deal with emotions, even old ones, is to experience them. Let them pain you and do not bury them. Buried wounds do not heal. They need to be exposed to the air so they can scab up and then flake away.

This weekend I saw some scabs being formed, and that is a good thing.

Grandpa Reinke's barn

Grandpa Reinke’s barn he built

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *