Family Picture

The meaning of home can be found in a family wedding picture. I see the loving smiles on their faces caught in a moment of joy. I feel the white satin dress with the puffy crinoline, white, hard, shiny pearls along the back. The faces of my family, staring into my soul, always reminding me that I am seen. (Sometimes because they want me to go to bed, and other times, when they’re proud of me.) I smell the cheesy alfredo sauce mixed with garlic and pasta that fills the air. While I listen to the noise of everyone talking around me. My mom’s laughter fills the whole room. I give her side eye because it’s so loud (but secretly I like the sound). I hear the DJ playing the “Cha Cha Slide” as my cousins, sisters and I slide to the left and slide to right across the dance floor. A lot can be seen in a family picture.