“…she can’t be from here
With every step she carries
That different dust….”

Why are women amazing, Victor sat asking himself while staring in awe at his smiling Mom and laughing sisters. Honestly, what is it? He finally decided it’s that they love so freely, without thinking first about it. They…. His thoughts were interrupted when quickly, from nowhere, impulsive little legs came running into the kitchen – sliding too fast. Before the inevitable crash into to the stove, Victor’s younger sister Sunnie raced over. Victor swooped in to save his young nephew, but Sunnie was faster, exclaiming, “Careful…oh…I caught you!” Quick to love and fiercely protective too, he marveled, realizing there was so much he shared in common with these stunning yet ordinary women. 

“Hey, Starla,” he said to his older sis, “what in the world…?  His voice sounded incredulous, he knew, but he couldn’t resist ribbing her about the half peanut butter and jelly sandwich he’d just found plastered to the bottom of the kids’ puzzle box on the kitchen table. Starla didn’t miss a beat, “You try working from home on a snow day while trying to keep these two love bugs fed and entertained!” The whole lot of them burst out laughing and at once recalled all the mischief they themselves had made as kids, home from school on snow days. How devious it’d felt!  

As they all talked, he got lost, noticing, as he always had to. Starla has Mom’s stare and strong, symmetrical smile. Sunnie has Dad’s determined spirit and hospitable grin. I’m somewhere in between. A mish-mash of them. I recognize some of me in all of them and them in me. Wherever, though, did my temperament come from? And this flashy smile that comes and goes so quickly? And my eyes -he almost thought aloud- someone once told me they always seem to be contemplating two places at once -here and elsewhere. Victor had not seen eyes like his before. Then Cressida. On that singular first and last meeting, she had the same soft stare and the same come-and-go bolt of a smile. She’s like you, Victor understood. I guess I’m not alone, he thought, and it brought him comfort. 

Looking around, his heart wanted to explode. Look at these life forces!  All of them, even the ones who run with more magic than their feet understand. This is my clan. We are alike. All this love in one room. Everywhere, there should be more of this, Victor decided.