Family & Pancakes Poem by Jim Yerman

As I was making pancakes in the shapes of olives for Aden's birthday the other day
I remembered how I used to make them for our children on Saturdays.

And as I was pouring out the shapes on the griddle, adding colors, I could see
How these pancakes are actually a representation of what is a family.

Although it was my hands creating the shapes, it was my hands doing the fixing
The hands of my ancestors were also there helping with the mixing.

Family is a continuous thread stretching back to the beginning of time
It is strong, it is spiritual, it is transcendent, it is noble and sublime.

Family, like my pancakes, is an adventure but I think throughout eternity
An adventure is exactly what...a family is supposed to be.

An adventure built on the shoulders of our ancestors- the past where we came from
To the present moment we are experiencing and to the future we will become.

Yes, we, our children and our children's children on through perpetuity
Are shaped as we climb the branches to the top of our family tree.

And a family, like my pancakes, is never flawless, never perfect, never chaste
For the proof of a family is not in the presentation...the proof is in the taste.

As I watched Aden eat those pancakes a thought occurred to me
How wondrous is the thread that links the members of our family.

I only wish more people would see how the threads of ancestry
Make all of us related...make everyone family.

Then not only would the world be more compassionate, more accepting and more fun
But in the morning every Saturday it'd be pancakes for everyone.