Sunday Afternoon Tea

My ponderings this week are all about making time for that which is special and far above the everyday of life...

It all started with a once upon a time... about a month ago... when my husband told me he wanted to set aside money in our budget to travel to one of our favorite events ever (in all our days)... The Feast of the Hunter's Moon.  We bought tickets a few weeks ago and have anticipated the day since then... there is something about that word, you know... anticipation.

It reminds me of Christmas as a child and New Year's Eve and those days after one finds out they are expecting a new life... thoughts of tomorrow and surprises and wonderment about what the Day will bring (or whom when one thinks of a new baby).

Yesterday was the day we attended the Feast and it was everything we remembered and all we hoped... a cool day along the Wabash, the aroma of firewood, the sound of the fife and drum corps... I won't say much as I am going to show you pictures but it was truly Narnia magic.  The only emptiness was not having children with me but they both went and grew up (how could they?).  ;)

I have decided the best inheritance I received from both of my parents were their sense of wonder and their childlike ability to have fun.  While my father passed away when I was ten, all of my memories of him have to do with his love for flowers and building things and stopping on the drive "back home" to Kentucky to take pictures of cows... yes, really... we had a lamb and chickens and a rooster and a pig when I was little but we had no cows... so one had to take pictures, you know.

Both of my parents knew pain and tragedy, my mother having been widowed the first time in her 30s...left with seven children and no income (she and my father married later in life).  In some ways her experiences shaped her in a not-so-good way as she made some unwise decisions due to fear.  But I understand and admire how her sense of fun remained until the time in her 80s when age affected her mind and body.

If parents can give their children nothing else, they can leave a legacy of expectation and anticipation... hope... and that carp diem way of thinking that "Today is the day the Lord has made and we shall rejoice and be glad in it"... that whatever the bank account says or the news headlines... this truly is the day God has made for each of us and it is ours to do with what we will.

There are so many things in life out of our control, when all we can do is pray and trust God that all will be well.  But what is ours to bring to the party is how we meet each day and every situation.

While I admit there are those mornings I awake with a sense of dread, knowing there is an appointment or a "situation" which needs my attention... that which is not enjoyable... I also know how I meet the day will affect how it goes for myself and those around me.  I prefer a tea party to a pity party.

I hope my legacy to my children and grandchildren will be that of my parents... to realize each day is a gift and treat it with the anticipation as we come to each new morning.  I want them to know that His mercies are new each of those mornings and there is nothing in each day that surprises Him.

If they develop an affinity for farm animals... well, that is just the icing on the cake.