the world is subdivided and divided again between many kinds of people. some see the nuances and shades of gray; others only see the tones of black and white; some of us straddle the fence on the divisions based on what we can get from the situation. i do not think that any of us fall completely into one camp or the other. but i could be wrong. i am struggling with a mother in law who takes up a disproportionate amount of time for our famiy. my own mother is deep into her own dementia as well. that leaves precious little time for other things. some conventions merely go by the wayside, perhaps never to be recovered again. traditions lost are traditions forgotten. one of those traditions in our house has been the communal taking of meals together. this one is quickly vanishing in the tensions and stresses of aging parents. the keyboard is a metaphor - black and white, but the hidden beauty of the music that can be created when the black and white (or gray) keys are played in unison.