Over this last holiday [the 4th] we celebrated the good wife's mother's 80th birthday..and the week before celebrated my mom's 80th birthday! I can not thank God enough for all that he has been to my family this last weekend. The kids from Syracuse, New York and Alabama and Michigan all arrived in central Illinois safe and sound, and safely have returned home; I don't know how many miles that would total up to but I know that safe travel for that many people that many miles is only by the grace and shelter of God ............ and now one harmed anyone! The reunion was a fun time, and the cousins absolutely hated to part, a couple of them shedding quite a few tears over the seperation. Though I'm certainly not fond of the great distances we share, maybe the times we are able to come together are all that much more special! At the big '80th' celebration on July 3rd I joined in the softball game [without mitts incidentally] of seniors vs. youngsters. That was certainly not one of the more intelligent things I've done the last great number of years ... it's Wednesday and I'm still recovering! But I did make one really 'nice' catch at first base on a pop fly; I went down on my knees and cupped my hands so there was no way I would miss it, and got a couple of cheers from my team with some hisses from the youngsters .... oh, the seniors did end up winning by hitting a home run in the bottom of the last inning [3rd or 4th]. It was so hot, we couldn't play any longer, plus unknown to the youngsters our legs were giving out! But its neat to go around bragging at this age that you beat teenagers; I'm almost certain that was my last sporting hurrah!!
I've mentioned before about my niece's daughter who just graduated from high school, we went to the graduation a couple weeks ago; and how the hometown they live in has no jobs, and their situation has weighted heavy on my mind. Well, my middle daughter and her family, from New York, invited her to come and live with them ... now this is really a shake-up ... no one figured she'd go, least of all my mother, who wasn't really for the idea, but she went ... and now we're praying that perhaps for once in her life, she'll really get to feel like she belongs in a family every day ... I applaud my daughter for this brave step, which no one else in the family [self included] was willing to take!
Well as I've said earlier, God just keeps throwing surprises in our path. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, on the way home we stopped in Fort Wayne, IND. and I got to have lunch at my 'mostest, favoooooorite chicken place' Chick-fil-A! I got a meal while the good wife shopped at the outdoor mall, and then later when she went to Chick-fil-A tried to get another meal out of her, ... well, she wasn't falling for that, .. but I did get an ice cream cone! Like a child, spilt the first one on the floor, the lady piled the ice cream to high, and they gracious gave me a much smaller second one.
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Congrats all around.
ReplyDeleteThe family reunions are becoming a thing of the past, I fear, to the detriment of the younger generations. Reading your post caused me to pause and remember that I must be thankful more often that my family, both mother and fathers' side, has stayed relatively close together. We see each other frequently, if not all in the same place at the same time. I forget how unusual that is in our transitory society.
Of course, my wife's family has to deal with her being six thousand miles away and only seeing her and our kids once a year. How they do it, I cannot imagine, and I'm thankful to God they let her marry me.
Cheers.
The old adage 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' was quite obviously made by someone for whom distance was neither an issue, or not a burdensome one. This coming Saturday, at home in Ohio a couple hours away, the grandkids on my father's side are having a reunion, so I'm going down for the day and getting my genealogy stuff copied for anyone who wants a copy. We haven't had a family reunion on this side of the family for at 'least 12 years.'
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