Back in April when we were in the final days of our epic power outage, on the day that a calf caked in mud was brought to me when I had zero gas in my inner tank, my sister in law offered to provide us with a hot meal. It was delicious and so incredibly appreciated. We had spent days being occupied by tasks that spread us thin and kept us from a lot of contact with each other. Tammy’s gift of a meal allowed us what other gift meals we had previously been given also allowed, precious moments when we came together and inhaled hot nourishment, feeling like veterans of a war with a special camaraderie.
Last month Tammy offered us another meal, this time it was ribs and it was quite amazing.
This past week Tammy called to line up another day when she could feed us. We got it arranged for this past Saturday which was handy as I conducted a wedding that afternoon while Russell attended our aunts funeral. I then whipped back to Carnduff to attend the reception after the funeral. It was another day when we really appreciated being fed. Tammy provides very generously and puts a lot of thought into making it all work.
I am making a blog post about this because I feel like this is another example of what my blog title is all about. I see you, you see me……Tammy’s efforts for us tell me that she sees two different things. She sees that we are hustling and mostly doing our best to make life work, to keep the ranch that was once her home going strong. She also sees that we are sharing with her what we can, our time, to support her in getting to city visits for appointments. Her actions speak loudly of her appreciation, it seems we see each others areas of need.
This last gift of a meal had an added heartwarming piece to it. Russ and I went to town to pick up the meal. Morgan stayed back, Jill was with her friends. When we returned with the meal Morgan had without being asked set the table. He had lit a candle. He hit the play button just as we entered the house so we arrived to Billy Joel singing “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, and he stood table side ready to receive us with a cloth draped over his arm. It delighted me to no end. What was he telling me? Perhaps that he is not too old to play pretend and its fun. Perhaps that he sees Russ and I doing our best most days. Perhaps he is noticing that we are a bit tired. What do I see when I look at him? I see the playful spirit that gripped him as a kid translated into his almost adult self, he still loves to play. Perhaps this is one of the ways we stay well, to let ourselves keep playing, there are so many ways it happens. In Morgan’s case I remember a day when he and his friend were 5 or 6 and every other sentence started with “how about”, followed by some plan to make some kind of pretend world come to life. I think about that often. How about…….
On the weekend it was like Tammy said to herself, “how about I make that recipe they like so much, and give Kathy a break.”
Morgan said to himself, “how about I transform this dining room into an Italian restaurant?”
It left me saying, “how about I write a post about nice things that happen when we really see each other.”
As Far As The Eye Can See 