Entering the Cave

S M Chen
6 min readMar 4, 2023

Had I not attended a recent Zoom meeting I would have not heard it. On the other hand, had I not attended, perhaps it wouldn’t have been uttered.

Our sibship, six strong, meets weekly via the Zoom platform.

With good fortune, my sibs are all alive and reasonably well. Our dear parents have departed, but we live on.

I am grateful to Zoom, for it allows us to congregate as if we are all in one large room, rather than being (in reality) scattered throughout the country. We see and hear each other in real time.

Actually, it is uncommon that all six attend. Something else (a meeting, a late luncheon, get together with offspring, the like) often impinges. But those that can do get together, and those get-togethers are often fruitful and heartwarming.

Sometimes others join us. Members of the next generation, or friends and acquaintances. All are figuratively welcome to eat at our table.

On thorny issues there is sometimes lack of uniformity. This is probably to be expected.

My three eldest siblings are all single. Their spouses have passed to another place from which there is no retrieval. Two of them had dementia. In fact, at different times they occupied the same care facility.

Sadly, there was nothing to be done for them. They gradually became shadows of their former selves and finally they themselves slipped into the shadows, out of view.

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