When my Granddaughter Britta was born, 17 years ago, I flew to Kansas to help out and have fun getting to know my very first Granddaughter. I was so excited about her birth and had made her blessing dress. That was so exciting to design and sew that tiny dress. I cut a section out of my wedding gown and also a gorgeous wedding slip and used that in the dress. It wasn't until I'd finished it that I realized it was cream colored and not pure white! The fabric had aged so much! My DIL Lorrie was very sweet and didn't say a word.
The night before her blessing I had a raging headache that made me wonder how on earth I could even get off the living room couch for Church the next morning. In the dark, Greg came down the hall. Mom? I replied- Yes? He said- Mom, if you could do it all over again, what would be the one most important thing to do for the family? I realized it was a very important question and he was serious. Throbbing head, I tried to focus. I knew I needed to answer him. Prayer ran through my mind in Rolodex fashion. Then I told him...do something fun every week.
I do believe that. We know what we need to do to live our religion and we are always trying to do that. We also know what needs to be done to keep the laundry done and vacuuming and those sorts of things. Fun does not just pop on our to do list. We need to write it down. Prioritize it. Making at least one wonderful fun memory a week is a great goal. I think it is anyhow.
Terry and I took a load of trash to the dump for my friend Kathryn who is moving away this week. One of the things he tossed, reminded me of a fun tradition that their family has. He tossed a big stack of plastic ice-cream bucket containers. They have what they call "forever cones". I think that is what they call it. Each person gets one ice cream cone and they can eat as much ice cream as they want, as long as the cone holds up! We even served that as dessert at her husband's funeral. I just imagined them always having ice cream in their freezer and cones in their cupboards. They gave away a box of cones also.
As I look at my life and what occupied my time when my house was filled with children, I feel that I was more preoccupied with the necessities and trying to keep my head above water. Those tasks, absolutely necessary for a semblance of order and peace, can eat up time completely and yet the family will only remember the overall feeling and not the individual tasks that made things livable. Do the basics and put memory making on your to do list.
As Moms/Grandma's/Aunties do we make sure that we do something fun with our families? something that we can look back on, share a memory, have a laugh or feel tender? Just as we organize our chore list, I think we also have to organize our fun list. I'm way past children at home 24/7. That stage of my life is over and yet I have great opportunities because they come back home and bring their children with them.
Food is an important part of our fun. Isn't it also for you? How I would love to have family dinners again. (Speaking of food. My sister called and said The Food Nanny has a new book out and it is great for planning evening meals. I asked her if it has the benefits of eating together as a family and she said it does. Better grades. Less likelihood of drug use. other things also.)
I would also go on some sort of annual vacation...camping or otherwise. I lived camping for years. well, I called it camping (no source of constant running water!) so I never had an interest in tenting it BUT if I had a do-over then I'd do that feat just for family fun/unity/memories.
We went to the Spit one evening, umpteen years ago and gathered rocks and came home and as a family built a hearth, signed our names, placed our hand-prints and we still have that and remember doing it. except for the baby! A great memory!
I took Greg and Lance blueberry picking, and we saw a tomato field and a pepper farm. I took the bedspreads with roses and pink gingham off the beds and put on masculine colors. I bought them fresh flowers-purple and white and put them in their room (they are males and I did have to point them out and say...aren't they gorgeous?) We ate seafood and visited and enjoyed each others company. We went to Church. To the Temple. Played a game. Nightly read the scriptures. Popped corn. Nothing big and fancy but we did make some memories. Memories don't just happen by chance usually. We make the effort.
God gave His children memory
That in life's garden there might be
June roses in December.
No comments:
Post a Comment