Just Like Old Times

     I mentioned all the would-be's of this past weekend in a message last Thursday, just to see it all written out, I think.  Our son played Wilkes Central football Friday night.  We watched our other son at WCU play on TV Saturday while we took care of our twin granddaughters so their parents could go to Carowinds to celebrate his and one of our other daughter's birthdays.  They spent the night with us to have a birthday breakfast and to go to Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.  Another daughter's birthday is tomorrow, and she was supposed to make it back into town for it all, but she only got back for the kayaking trip on the New River after church.  And that's just how it goes sometimes.
     We just have to be glad for what does work out and forget about the stuff that doesn't, like both boys' teams losing and like the birthday girl having to ice her own cake and like one of the toddlers falling in the chilly water first thing on the kayaking trip.
     Turns out that Sunday's birthday girl was thrilled with how her weekend went.  I don't know that the family has come together that way on her behalf in a good, long while.  I found out that she was particularly moved by my baking cake Sunday morning.  Two things:  I don't cook on Sundays, and I don't ever bake cake; I haven't in probably 15 years, maybe more.  With 5 daughters who love to cook, who needs to?  So, for this daughter, it was special that I was doing something out of the ordinary for her.
      And that's where it's at.  Of all the big plans we had for the weekend, the sweetest thing was a simple one, even if she had to ice it herself.



      I used to stay up late getting everything perfect: clean and beautiful.  I had wanted to get all the decorating and cooking done after the babies went to sleep Saturday night, but I was just plain tired.  And after all these years, I've learned that having enough sleep to be clear minded and good natured is what matters.
     Besides one of the sisters got up with me Sunday morning and decorated.  And once we were all up and at 'em, another sister arrived and was doing another's makeup while another was doing one's hair, just like old times.  And those are pictures that matter to me, not the ones of everyone smiling and looking pretty.

(2019)