On Mom's last day of visiting, I decide to turn the regular dinner into a going-away party. Why not? Her visits are usually just a weekend, but a later meeting in a neighboring city, extended her stay into a week.
We have all loved having Mom/Grandma longer than usual, and her extended stay warranted special occasion action! We met the girls for lunch, we visited Holly, we breakfasted on the deck. I enlisted her to help teach my class, and best of all, she helped with the impossible task of picking out bathroom tile and flooring.
So on her last night, we made a spicy enchilada dish, a German Chocolate cake, and Holly even brought a cake. All her grandchildren/great grandchildren were present (except for the honeymooner). It had indeed turned into a party to honor Mom's presence.
When we gather around our dinner table to honor a birthday, we have a tradition. Each person takes a moment to share a favorite memory or something he or she loves about the honored person.
As the firstborn granddaughter, Holly remembered the times she was greeted at the airport with Grandma bent down with her arms open, waiting for her to run into them.
Tony remembered all the pies sitting on her dining room table the day before Thanksgiving. Even her great grandchildren had very specific memories of her love and generosity. I spoke last and couldn't speak without choking up, for my mom and dad had taught Tony and me how to be grandparents--how to love unconditionally, and how to enjoy our grandchildren. What a legacy! When all ten guests (the ones who could speak), had finished sharing, the table was a place of love and devotion.
Last night, the honeymooners got home and our newly married daughter texted: dinner tomorrow?
Mandi replied: Um yes!?! At Mom's?
So tonight, once again we will celebrate life, for it will be Mandi and Ezra's going away party (they return to Chicago after a one week stay too), and it will be Jillian and Tanner's coming-home-married party. We will once again take turns around the table, but perhaps it will be to listen to each person's favorite memory of the wedding, or favorite thing about our new son-in-law, or cutest thing that two year old Ezra did, and of course something wonderful about Mandi---because I have learned, not a minute too late, that life needs to be a celebration.
We have all loved having Mom/Grandma longer than usual, and her extended stay warranted special occasion action! We met the girls for lunch, we visited Holly, we breakfasted on the deck. I enlisted her to help teach my class, and best of all, she helped with the impossible task of picking out bathroom tile and flooring.
So on her last night, we made a spicy enchilada dish, a German Chocolate cake, and Holly even brought a cake. All her grandchildren/great grandchildren were present (except for the honeymooner). It had indeed turned into a party to honor Mom's presence.
When we gather around our dinner table to honor a birthday, we have a tradition. Each person takes a moment to share a favorite memory or something he or she loves about the honored person.
As the firstborn granddaughter, Holly remembered the times she was greeted at the airport with Grandma bent down with her arms open, waiting for her to run into them.
Tony remembered all the pies sitting on her dining room table the day before Thanksgiving. Even her great grandchildren had very specific memories of her love and generosity. I spoke last and couldn't speak without choking up, for my mom and dad had taught Tony and me how to be grandparents--how to love unconditionally, and how to enjoy our grandchildren. What a legacy! When all ten guests (the ones who could speak), had finished sharing, the table was a place of love and devotion.
Last night, the honeymooners got home and our newly married daughter texted: dinner tomorrow?
Mandi replied: Um yes!?! At Mom's?
So tonight, once again we will celebrate life, for it will be Mandi and Ezra's going away party (they return to Chicago after a one week stay too), and it will be Jillian and Tanner's coming-home-married party. We will once again take turns around the table, but perhaps it will be to listen to each person's favorite memory of the wedding, or favorite thing about our new son-in-law, or cutest thing that two year old Ezra did, and of course something wonderful about Mandi---because I have learned, not a minute too late, that life needs to be a celebration.