This Family

August 7, 2017

Have you ever noticed how the elderly are drawn to the young?

It’s like there’s a magnet attached to the heart of a little one which causes the head of every senior citizen to swivel in that child’s direction.

We discovered that truth all over again when we took Noah and Madison to visit Mom at her assisted living facility.  As soon as Meagan and the kids walked into the dining room, they were the immediate center of attention. Wrinkled faces erupted into smiles and white heads bobbed in appreciation.

I know that when I am ninety years old, the sight of a fresh-from-heaven, new-to-life toddler will create the same reaction in me.

After we had done a little visiting with Mom and her friends, she asked us to go over to the piano and sing and play while the residents had lunch. Meagan took this cool shot.

Sarah took this one.  (Aren’t you proud of me for being in all these pictures?)

I realize that it doesn’t look like we were doing too much singing here; in fact, Sarah and I look like we very well could have been asleep. But I promise. We really did sing!

 

Noah and Madison brought joy in yet another way as they worked with Meagan to create a little book for Mom containing their photos.

They proudly presented it to her in a little ceremony.

 

Here are a few more pictures of those darling babies of ours.

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Before I move on from the subject of grandchildren, I wanted to share a couple little stories.

1. When I pulled up to the Milwaukee airport to pick up Nathan and his family, Nathan stayed with the car to pack the luggage and I went inside to find Meagan and the kids.

The instant Noah and Madison spotted me across the luggage claim area, they both screamed, “GWAM-MA!” and started running across the terminal at top toddler speed. They both arrived in the vicinity of my person at about the same time and tackled me in a manner that would have done a middle school football team proud. Toddler-level, knee-high hugs are the best.

2. The other story is when Nathan told Noah that Aunt Debbie was going to play drums in church that coming Sunday. Noah said, “Nuh, uh, Daddy. Girls don’t play drums.”  (He has only ever seen men play.)

When the Sunday service arrived and Debbie started playing, I leaned forward for a peak at Noah’s face.  He was staring at her with an expression of total disbelief mixed with complete awe. I was so excited for him to see a girl play drums and so proud of Debbie for being the one who got to show her great-nephew that, “Uh, huh. Girls DO play drums.”  Go, Deb!

 

It’s always such a joy during our Wisconsin visits to hang out at Randy and Debbie’s lovely home.

Steve always makes comments about their greener-than-green lawn. (There may be just a little bit of lawn envy going on.)

 

On one evening during our visit, Nathan and I were able to snatch an hour of time together on the back porch.  He and I so rarely have uninterrupted time to talk so it was the truest treasure to get to spend those moments with him. I so dearly love that son of mine and the amazing woman he married.  And I especially love that Meagan saw with her heart just how much the moment meant and made sure to get a photo.

 

 I’ll close with a few final photos of the 2017 Wisconsin Trip.

(A few of the pictures have captions at the bottom.)

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I think my favorite part about this journey to Wisconsin . . .

was being reminded, once again, of the never-ending generational shiftings. I loved trying to imagine what my 82-year old mom was thinking as she looked at 2-year old Madison: her daughter’s son’s daughter. 

I think it was so poignant to me because I was thinking that one day, I would be the full-of-years family matriarch in the easy chair.  I would be the one looking into the eyes of my child’s child’s child.

When that day comes for me, I will finally find out what it feels like to arrive at the end of one’s years, to sit and see the future just an arm’s reach away.

I will witness the hellos and goodbyes of the generations.  I will see the never-ceasing cycle of struggles and smiles and marriages and births and deaths and the future and the past–all stitched together into the inimitable definition of family that a dictionary can never quite capture.

And when that day arrives, I will fold my hands and give thanks that I was allowed to live this life . . . these years . . . with these people . . . this family.

 

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28 comments so far.

28 responses to “This Family”

  1. Cheryl Denton says:

    Becky,
    Thank you for the joy of joining your travels — both to Wisconsin and down life’s pathway. Beautifully said! 🙂

    • Becky says:

      Cheryl,

      How exciting to see your name, sweet friend!

      Glad you enjoyed the Smith travelogue and glad for the chance to join YOU occasionally for get togethers on life’s journey.

  2. Fred NonProm Johnson says:

    One of your very best (maybe the best) “photo-journalism” posts ever! I especially enjoyed the photos with Mom and great grandchildren. And those embedded slide shows are nothing short of magic. Madison in the sprinkler gets The Prize! (On my next trip to Manteo – if that ever happens! – I have a little token of my appreciation for you and Pastor Steve.)

    • Becky says:

      Mr. NonProm! 🙂

      Great to get a coment from you.

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the photo-journalism post; it was such fun to write And yes, I love the Madison in the Sprinkler shots.

      Come over to Manteo any ol’ time!

  3. Michele says:

    Your babies are adorable and getting so big! I’m glad you had a great vacation!

  4. Angela says:

    A lovely post about lovely people!

  5. Nancy Irving says:

    loved this, thank you so much for sharing

  6. Lesley says:

    Wonderful post, wonderful pictures. Love the last paragraph especially. By the way, your mom looks great! I will be bringing my 2 year old grandaughter to visit my 93 year old dad next month. Also, his “daughter’s son’s daughter”. I try to imagine what if feels like to him to look at his family from the seat of longevity. You described it really well. (I still see Sarah in Maddie!)
    Thank you for sharing your visit to the assisted living facility. I used to bring my Sarah in to see my residents are the long term care facility where I worked. They loved it!

    • Becky says:

      Lesley,

      How fun you get to take your granddaughter to visit your dad. There is some sort of a magical spark that appears in the air when the very old meet the very young. It’s almost like the passing of the baton.

      I can only imagine how much the residents loved seeing your sweet, smiling Sarah. Love that.

  7. Wendy says:

    Wow! What a fabulous post. I also had tears as I read through it, but happy tears as I think back to when mom was still alive and she LOVED to see all the little ones too and would tell us let them make noise and be kids 🙂 Enjoyed all the pictures of the family, especially the one with Sarah blowing on her burning marshmellow 🙂

    • Becky says:

      Wendy,

      So glad you have good memories of your mom. I love that she told you all to let them make noise–she sounds like a marvelous, fun lady.

      I loved the marshmallow picture, too. 🙂

  8. Steve says:

    Classic Becky Smith finale.

  9. Dale Tousley says:

    Oh Becky, that was beautiful, especially your last few paragraphs, which of course, made me cry! I haven’t seen my son in 7 months and my daughter and I are driving out to KC to spend 10 days with him, your post made me realize how much I miss him, I mean, I know I do, but this really brought it home how important and wonderful it is to spend time with family.

    • Becky says:

      Dale,

      What fun to get to spend 10 days with that son of yours. Hooray! I know it will also do your heart good to see him with his sister. Few things sweeter.

  10. Sharyn McDonald says:

    Thanks Becky for sharing your wonderful pictures. So glad you, Steve, Sarah, and Nathan’s family were able to get to Wisconsin to see family once again. We had a gentleman in our neighborhood, 87 years of age, who went walking every day. Last Wed. he collapsed about 2 blocks from home and died enroute to the hospital. I say all that because he had a 1957 Mustang in his garage that, in the 12 years we have lived here, he never took it out – he would get in, turn the key, and made sure it ran, but that was as far as it went. How I wanted to see that car being driven. There are things that we hold onto and never use, or we have things we want or need to do, but keep putting it off because of one thing or another. Many times it’s finances that hold us back or ill health. So thankful that you were able to see your mom and siblings because I’m sure it might be awhile before you are able to go back “home” once again. I know those pictures will bring back great memories.

    • Becky says:

      Sharyn,

      What a great story about the gentleman with the Mustang in his garage–always there, but never driven. Such a good example of the things in life we don’t do when they are right there in front of us. That is a good reminder to not just just seize the day but seize all the moments within the days.

      And if we ever get a Mustang? We need to DRIVE that thing! 🙂

      Thanks for such a thought-provoking comment.

  11. Phyllis says:

    Beautiful pictures. So thankful that your entire little family was able to make the trip to Wisconsin to see family.

    • Becky says:

      Phyllis,

      I was especially thankful Nathan and Meagan were able to make it; it just wouldn’t have been as wonderful without them. For a while it looked like they weren’t going to be able to come due to finances but then it worked out. So grateful.

  12. LeeAnne says:

    Oh Becky…..you have such a wonderful way with words. It brought tears to my eyes as I sat and thought and imagined myself in that easy chair. Your family is just beautiful and I love seeing all of the love and happiness. And those babies. Cute beyond words! 🙂

    • Becky says:

      LeeAnne,

      Easy chairs and babies . . . some of the best things in life.

      Thanks for your compliment about my writing; that really encouraged me.

  13. Ann Draper Martin says:

    Beautiful pictures and wonderful memories. I am so thankful you got to experience this. Hugs.

    • Becky says:

      Ann,

      That’s the best part of memories–you get to keep them and take them with you wherever you go.

      Prayers for you in this new, challenging season of your life. Love from the Smiths!

  14. Andrea Zipf Harper says:

    Oh Becky…this may be my favorite post ever. Thanks for making my day old mascara run lol. Beautiful sentiments….

    • Becky says:

      Andrea–thank you for your sweet words.

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. It’s always an honor to make a reader’s mascara run. 🙂

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