The Simple things

In church yesterday a woman told us about her recent trip to take care of her aging mother for 6 weeks. She said that it was the first time she had left her husband for that long.  While she was gone he learned how to do laundry, cook a little and grocery shop.  She was so thrilled that he had developed these skills while she was away.  She also let us know how much she loved her husband and told us that he was her best friend.  Guess how long they have been married?  47 years!!!  It is the simple things that feed our love for one another.   It is not the fact that your husband bought you a super large diamond or that wonderful sports car you have been dreaming of.  It's not that you took a three week trip to Europe or sailed around the world on the fanciest cruise ship.  Oh those things may be nice and I certainly am not saying they wouldn't be lovely to do....but those are not the things that relationships are made of.

This past labor day weekend is a perfect example of how the simple things in our relationships with one another (whether it be; family or friends) create memories and relationships that endure.  

Friday was our granddaughter Star's first birthday.  Her parents (Chris and Paula) have been planning her birthday celebration for weeks now.  She was to have her own little cake and then for the true birthday dessert we would all have cheesecake (because Star loves cheese and cheesecake).  When I called to arrange for the cake, Chris and Paula made the special request that it have a rainbow with a star at the end on it.  I talked to the baker and she said they only put the baby's name on these cakes and they didn't have any special things they could put on it.  I offered to pay additional (which meant paying something because before that it was free. )  The baker said it would not be possible to do and shared some possible alternatives with me.    When I picked up the cake on Friday much to my surprise... it was beautifully decorated with a rainbow and a star.   Starlynn and her parents were so happy at the results.  She had a great time eating her cake and making a total mess.  As she did so we reminisced about the first birthdays of each of my own children. 

Saturday morning we headed up to Arlington, WA to visit Len's sister and Mother for a couple of  days.  We had originally planned on going up to Washington several weeks ago and then going camping over the Labor day weekend but because of illness in the household in Washington we postponed the Washington trip and rescheduled it for labor day weekend.  I was disappointed that we were not going camping so....we decided to set up the tent in Len's sister's back yard and "camp out" there.  

We had a wonderful visit with Len's sister Sharon and husband John and Len's mom.  Mainly we just sat out in the sun on the deck and occasionally threw a frisbee around for their golden lab Samantha to catch.  She would retrieve the frisbee over and over again until one of us (either Samantha or I) were so tired we couldn't do it anymore.   We simply enjoyed being together. 

Sunday afternoon we headed home.  We listened to various podcasts, talked and listened to music and the time and miles flew past.  

Today started off with a nice walk with a friend followed by several hours of doing whatever we pleased.  After lunch we went as a family on a hike in Forest Park, stopped for ice cream cones at Baskin-Robbins and then got groceries for the week.

When we got home from our outing,  I went out to the side yard to clean up some moss that had dropped on our newly created gravel path.  Len noticed what I was doing and started at the other end of the path helping me.  As we worked our way towards each other I promised him a kiss when we reached the middle together.  The next few minutes were spent anticipating that meeting as we picked up bits of moss and put them in our buckets....and a subject for a blog was born.  It really is all about, "the simple things".