En Famille

We had a pleasant weekend with the family. To celebrate Mum's birthday, we went for a picnic, by the river Avon, with the three little'uns.

When I went to bed that night, my mind was filled with images of rivers, trees and green 'wolds'. Husband hadn't wanted to go, because he was exhausted after a week's conferences in Italy, but for me it was nice to have so much of his company all in one go. Well, as Wilkie Collins so aptly said "This is married life; when you want to go upstairs, there is your wife coming down and when you want to go downstairs, there she is coming up". So, whatever you want, you can be sure the other wants something different at that point!

I remember reading a story by Maupassant called En Famille, about a family whose aged mother died, and as they were all sitting around the coffin, they began to argue about who should have her wealth. Then she sat up in her coffin - not dead at all! And she'd heard the whole conversation, and realised that they didn't care for her, only her money. I used to find Maupassant depressing when I read him as a teenager, but now I can see the humour in it - black humour though it is. The phrase en famille usually has a cosy ring to it, the loving family all gathered together having a pleasant, domestic time...and that can be true - but it's also true that families can be places of great tension and miserable undercurrents, so I never quite know what to think when people talk about the importance of the family and family values - ambivalent, I suppose.

As a devotee of Krishna, we want to somehow help our family towards understanding of Him and our relationship with Him. So it was nice that the kids wanted to come in our car and we could play kirtan as we were driving along. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna ♫ ♪ ♫ - well enough blethering - must be getting on with the day!