Author: Valerie

We had a wall repaired in our living room and then the walls repainted so we needed to move our two tall book shelves out so the painter could paint. One evening it took about thirty minutes or so to transfer the books into boxes and moved the shelves out of the way. We were amazed at how many books were on those two book shelves. Both my husband and I love books so we’ve collected a few over the years, although I borrow many books from the library, especially the books I read for book club.

Now that the wall is repaired and room has been painted we put the book shelves back in place, but we are finding that it is taking a lot longer to put the books back on the shelves.  We handle each book lovingly, remembering where it came from and what it was about etc…and then we determine if it really is going to go back on the bookshelf or in the box to donate to the annual Hospital Auxiliary Sale which happens to take place every April in our town (great timing!!!)  It is not easy to part with books. They become our friends and we have emotional attachments to them and we think maybe we’ll reread them again someday, which rarely happens. So we are taking our time and enjoying the process while thinning out our books.

I will keep all the children’s books though. I am particularly fond of children’s books…and not all of them are on these two shelves…I have a box-full in the closet …but I’m not telling anyone about that!

I got to throw a party over the weekend…a baby shower for my soon-to-be-born grand-daughter, due May 1. I love to plan a party (this one with a dear friend) and I love to decorate, especially using the antique dishes I have collected over the years.

My son came along with his wife to take part in the festivities! And my husband helped in the kitchen and served the women. A friend of his stopped by and asked  if he could come “out to play” but he said he had to work and recruited his friend to help him in the kitchen!

Right before the shower began I was attending to some finishing touches. I wanted to float some freshly washed rubber duckies, with pink bows and bibs, in the punch, but all three duckies went “bottoms-up’! People started to arrive and joined us in the kitchen all suggesting different ideas to try to make these ducks stay upright. Nothing worked. Finally we set them along the rim of the punch bowl which looked fine… but the ordeal was quite comical.

Introductions were made, a children’s book was read – and a devotional too – snacks were eaten, presents opened and questions answered as part of a “game”.  The gifts were generous and laughter plentiful.

To celebrate our anniversary on Saturday we went out for dinner. We like to try new places so we went to a restaurant we had never been to before. We were seated at a “half moon” booth and had a relaxing and delicious dinner. Before we left home we had decided to exchange our cards at the restaurant…we always buy a card for one another. This year we were in for a surprise. We bought the same card! We laughed and wondered, and were amazed. We didn’t even buy them at the same store. I’m pretty sure that will never happen again.

Our waiter took special interest in us too, and brought us a complimentary Crème Brule. It was a fun 39th anniversary celebration.

It’s our 39th wedding anniversary today. We will go out for dinner to celebrate. Last year a friend at work wrote a fun poem about her anniversary in response to a comment when she told a colleague it was her anniversary…he said, that’s a lot of dinners! Here is her poem:

13,514
by Sharon Ginter Eichhorn

13,514.
If you factor in leap years,
that is the count.
That is the number–
a lifetime, really.

One simple measure
of the passage of time.
A “Dinner Table” mathematical formula—
totaling an equation
of my life’s story.

Those first dinners, oh my.
Crusty casseroles with burnt edges
and tasteless flavor.
Spices were still a new concept,
untested and seldom employed.

Sitting down to some of those creations
was a risky venture—
once a one-bite effort
followed by two plops into the waste basket
and dinner out.

But the years passed,
and the meals improved
and the times spent across the
span of plates and family
continued.

When the babies came,
during those first years,
sometimes the meal consisted of
popcorn, a soda, and a lot of sighing.
Time was at a minimum.

Then came the years of hot dogs,
macaroni and cheese, tuna salad,
carrot strips and ice cream.
And, my motherly effort of hiding Brussels sprouts
inside meatballs to improve their diet of veggies.

On to the dinners with busy teens
grabbing Hot Pockets as they raced out the door,
and 1 a.m. pizzas because they missed dinner
and were starving—totally ignoring, of course,
the healthier leftovers in the frig.

And then, the deeply painful adjustment
to a table returned to two,
and a effort at acceptance of this quieter version
of the dinner table experience,
a lonelier variation of the years just past.

Now, with two at the table the norm,
a larger crowd intimidates a bit.
Thank goodness my cooking skills have improved,
because the nerves have aged,
and balancing it all more difficult.

But, joy is present when the count
at our table grows.
The kids have returned to share a meal
and I break out the big guns,
all their favorites gracing the table.

Deeply satisfied if I can feed them well,
dinners have become a gift I can give,
a welcome home and a gesture of love.
And the pleasure feeds my soul
Until the next time we gather.

So now, it is just Jack and I
most often at our table.
A return to the beginning,
as the circle comes to a close …
as we remember the start of all this.

Today, as we celebrate, quietly,
the 37 years of dinners we have shared
across the family table,
And remember all the stages of a life well-lived,
the circle meets … and goes on.

13,514 … plus 1 …

We have many fun memories of camping trips when our boys were young. We took many road trips, camping in National parks across the country and many weekend getaways, camping in Minnesota State Parks.

A few weeks ago when we went to see the baby nursery my son and his wife have decorated for their expectant daughter a special memory came to mind. Hanging on the wall was a framed music stanza of  “You Are My Sunshine”.  This is meaningful because my husband would often, and randomly, sing this song, off-key, while sitting around the picnic table or campfire…and it made us all laugh. This was not a one-time event, nor a “camping only” event, but it is a vivid camping memory since we heard him sing it most often outdoors.

It was special to see this framed print hanging on the nursery wall for our newest grand-daughter coming in May. We are excited to meet her and to hear grandpa sing these sweet words to her, as he has with our other grandchildren.

Since the downtown Minneapolis Macy’s Department Store closed it’s doors for good earlier this month there will be no more annual spring flower shows in the 8th floor auditorium. I will miss them. In appreciation of the tradition, I am posting some photos from 2016, last year’s flower show.