Milestone One - 35 Years
Niagara Falls. Perhaps a bit cliche but it's where Ken and I both wanted to go for a quick getaway to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. August 19, 1978. Wow.
We couldn't have asked for better weather. Perfect re-summer weekend (Sunday-Monday) with lots of walking along the Falls and through spectacular Queen Victoria park. Dinner at Rainforest Cafe (just for the fun of it) on Sunday night. Tiny bit of shopping for the grandkids, just because. Bought myself a pair of just-a-bit-of-bling sunglasses for $5.00, and a stylin' straw sunhat because I hadn't thought to bring one with me.
But the best moments didn't have so much to do with where we were or what we were doing as much as it was about what we were saying to each other. All throughout the weekend our conversation kept coming back to our deep awe and astonished gratitude for God's fierce faithfulness to hold us together and keep us together for three and a half decades. We recounted the many and varied challenges our marriage has had to contend with. We remembered out loud several points of parenting, both the happy and not so. We marveled at outcomes we would never have dreamed possible in the midst of the darkest chapters. As we walked and sat on benches under trees and beside fountains, we remembered together. All day.
And we prayed. That's how we started the day actually, on Monday, the 19th. We just sat together by the window in our hotel room and spoke out loud with each other our thankfulness and our need for Him to keep on being very God in the midst of us. Because we can't do these next 35 years without Him.
And we ate chocolate and ice cream, Ken and I respectively :).
Milestone Two - Long Awaited Closure
Tomorrow is the closing date on a piece of family property I have co-owned with another family member for about 25 years. Before that it belonged to my mother, and before that it belonged to my mother's uncle. It was lakefront, in the Kawarthas, and adjacent to the cottage property where I spent my childhood summers. Should have been a wonderful thing. It wasn't.
There are lots of reasons why a particular place becomes negatively associated in one's mind, and it has very little to do with the physicality of it. Just....over time and for various reasons my desire to be released from this place has grown in intensity. For some time it seemed I would never be free. Complicating circumstances, overriding responsibilities, property lines and easements and disputes. Sad. Just a beautiful place, but it just wouldn't go gracefully. I prayed so hard it could be called begging. Three years, this last slog of it.
Then suddenly this summer, an offer, an agreement, signatures, and it's done. Yesterday I signed it officially away. It feels like something dead and heavy that I'd been dragging around by a filthy cord tied to my ankle has been cut off. I am running!
We intend to use our portion of the money from the sale for redemptive, compassionate purposes. Seems like the poetry of justice to do so.
Milestone Three - Mom's Birthday
I'm surprising her. With me, when I head to Lakefield this coming Sunday afternoon, will be two of Mom's now five great-grandchildren, plus their mother. She hasn't seen any of them in three years. Abby remembers Great Gramma, but Zachary, not so much. He's such a big boy now. Mom will be amazed, delighted. At least I really hope so.
It's a long drive but we intend to shamelessly utilize the DVD player in the van and numb out the kids for the duration. We'll stay overnight, have a birthday picnic in the park the next day, and then head home again.
Pictures to follow.
All of these markings are making for something of a whirlwind week, with lots of time driving. Even so, my spirit remains in a state of restedness and calm, something I've been happy and grateful to realize has lingered this past month home from the cottage.
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