Recurring celebrations spiral throughout our lives. The vision of the spiral staircase can be a helpful framework through which to see celebrations. Annually, we honor recurring dates, such as birthdays, with a chance to revisit, reshape, deepen, and develop relationships and rituals. This can connect our big picture of the human endeavor on earth to the intimate experience of our own family’s life. While ceremonies often celebrate or commemorate something, they can also become vital opportunities for healing reparative care. Families often have underlying dynamics and needs that can be tended to in sensitively constructed collectivity. In fact, who gets invited as well as who does not, may already set up the needs and opportunities ahead.
Spiraling the Years
