Looking Back Over the Years

Today has been quite productive. When Claudia asked me tonight via FaceTime how I was doing, my word was, "Spectacular," which for my sardonic self is not a typical response. With the exceptional help of sons John and Ben this afternoon, I was able to sort through eight boxes of Christmas paraphernalia accumulated over the past twenty years, reducing the "kept" items to two boxes. Our local thrift store is the recipient of numerous strands of lights, artificial greenery and a couple of archaic, but still useful, tree stands. I'm not sure why one family needs four separate tree stands, but now we have just one. None of the items we gifted has any sentimental value, and our other items are now safely stored with like items for a future Christmas.

I have been sorting through numerous other boxes (unopened since our last move in 2012), deciding what to keep and what to gift to others or to recycle. It is such a feeling of accomplishment to have a tidy, organized group of boxes that will neatly fit into our Pod.

I made dinner tonight (meatballs, mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans) for those of us in the house, and we were joined by daughter Mercedes and her boyfriend Matt. After dinner I announced that I was working on a cookbook during my current vacation/moving time, and solicited their favorite meals to include. At first the responses were slow in coming, and then as we remembered and discussed favorite food items I've made over the years, I was overwhelmed by how many items they remembered with fondness. I was reminded that in the past twenty years I have cooked thousands of meals, many hundreds of different options and have the joy of knowing how much this has meant to my children. To know how much this matters to my now-adult children makes the hours and hours of grocery shopping, planning, cooking, serving and cleaning over the years worthwhile. I can't begin to calculate the money and time that have been invested in feeding our twelve children over nearly twenty years.

Looking back over the years, I realize once again how very blessed I have been to add to my children's lives in normal, ordinary ways. That Claudia and I made mealtimes together as a family a daily event of significance has tremendous paybacks. I am grateful to have been such an intricate part of that weave of our family's life.