The Communion
My heart feels like a galaxy with a billion stars as I look around a room filled with people whose timelines have collided with mine in this dimension of our inexplicable existence. I have laughed with these people, cried with them, broken bread, celebrated their wins, and mourned their losses. The power of our bond is something immutable, even while it constantly transforms, takes different shapes, waxes and wanes with the passage of time, and releases old members and re-introduces the new.
It’s crazy how much capacity our hearts have to hold the breadth of this connection with so many people. It’s simultaneously the stabilising and peaceful thrum of a heartbeat, but also the chaos of bolts of electricity firing indiscriminately and in disorder punctuating that peace. They will always be there, but not every single one of them will always be there or at the same time. The tension of this reality, sometimes looms like a foreboding cloud amidst the purity of moments like this, a poignant reminder that the only time we have is now.
All around me is an array of mahogany, pecan, and cafe au lait coloured faces, white teeth glinting with merriment and joy, under the orchestral guidance of the latest Afrobeats music. All alike, but also so very different. Descendants of many, but the convergence of one particular lineage and timeline. It’s a holy meeting, a gathering of souls cosmically placed in the same galactic universe.
We are the survivors, we are the ones who’ve made it, we are the ones who have been assigned to carry on the legacy. We are the stars designated to keep the light of our ancestors gleaming within the universe, wherever the next iteration of humanity takes it.
I wonder sometimes what they would think. Our ancestors. If they would be happy or unimpressed with who their descendants have become. If we have exceeded their wildest dreams, or if we have fallen below expectation. I wonder if they were even people who I would’ve liked. Nevertheless they succeeded. They succeeded in surviving the ravages of existence and humanity's endless trials and tribulations. And because they succeeded, I am here. Those around me are here. And today we gather to celebrate ascension. Ascension to a new grade of life. Another step on the mission to be the next batch of ancestors who promote their descendants to the stars.
Glasses clink sloshing with Chapman, belly laughs ricochet round the room, babies murmur, and voices dip in and out of multiple conversations occurring at once, as mouths open and tongues roll out to be tantalised with suya, jollof rice, fish, plantain and more. Faces unseen for months, some even years, are studied with delight, badgered for new news, and eagerly welcomed without ceremony into all conversations all at once. It is a cacophony of noise and disorder, but a familiar one.
There’s a speech, an ode to our support and love over the years, a confession of challenges and difficulties faced - things we’ve never heard, there’s words from a proud mother and father, and a nod to a recent ancestor who bequeathed a name on the ascendant that has been the testament of their life. With respect and love, we take a moment to absorb the supernatural poignacy of this fact. Finally as always, and in all things, thanks is given to the Creator who gave us life, and ordained all our destinies to be woven into the same web.
There is a lifting that these occasions bless us with. A nourishment that feels physical and spiritual, like your soul is being wrapped in the biggest warm hug you can imagine. It is a wonder and a privilege. Not everyone has this or gets to have this, and not everyone thinks it’s worth it or important…but for most people, once fate has placed you in the arena, you realise how sacred it is and all you want is more.
It is communion. Of spirits, bodies, minds, and relational bonds. This is family.