WE HAD ALL BEEN ANTICIPATING THE FAMILY reunion for weeks. Especially since it had been two years since our last one. Because our family is spread out over a three-state area, getting everyone together at the same time can be a bit tricky. But after everyone's schedules, agendas, and time off from work had been coordinated, and a long weekend set aside, a last-minute kink threatened to ruin the entire event.
A much-loved family member and I had a falling out. I wondered how a perfectly simple request on my part could be so badly misconstrued. Harsh words were spoken and a threat was made to not even go to the reunion. To be honest, at that point, I didn't much care if that person showed up or not! But I knew in my heart that such an attitude was definitely not the answer, because it wasn't based on love. And even if she didn't show up, the reunion simply would not have been the same.
I longed to heal the situation, or at least to heal my thoughts about it, but self-justification and self-righteousness argued long and hard that she had to apologize to me, not the other way around. After all, what I'd requested was perfectly normal, completely justified, and totally warranted—or at least I thought so.
