as a rule....

they had always dined together,
 "en famille"...
but these days they were running in so many scattered directions...
they hardly seemed to see one another anymore....
and time wasn't standing still at all.....
the leaves were turning colors utterly quickly...
there was a mild chill in the air....
and soon winter would be upon them...
just like that....
and those dog days of summer would be but a remote memory...

so how could she impress upon them the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of being with family ?
clearly....
no matter how many ways she'd expressed it.....
it had somehow NOT RESONATED with any of them....
so they would continue to aspire to those lofty, yet reachable goals....
moving about with great speed, aptitude, and stealth....
and they wouldn't really notice the seasons rolling by....
for they were swept away on their own journeys....
and so it went.....