It's so funny to me that the table we crammed seven people around this morning is the same table I bought with my first husband in Thomasville, Georgia in about 1979 and which has been with me ever since. It is the table on which my beloved friends from nursing school and I studied in the early eighties. For awhile, in a house that we lived in when all the children were at home, that table sat out in a sunroom because it got too crowded for all of us and the extras that seemed to constantly find their way to our meals. The table we bought for that dining room is the one I'm now using on the back porch and most of my posts come from my MacBook which is perched on it and the round table, the oak table, is back in our dining room and at service again.
Another funny thing to consider is that when Mr. Moon asked me to dance with him at a bar in Tallahassee the night after Thanksgiving, 1983, I never once had any premonition that thirty-nine years later the table that my friends and children and I ate on and studied on and played games on would be filled with grandchildren although I did have a feeling in my very bones after the second time I saw him that he was going to ask me to marry him. And seven months later, he did.
I wonder how many pancakes I've served on that table now.
A lot. A heck of a lot.
The boys were so good last night. They slept in the big bed in the guest room instead of the fold-up beds laid out on the floor of our room which was truly a big boy thing to do. We read three of our favorite books including The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza, of course. I scratched Levon's back for a little while until he was just about asleep and then scratched August's. I switched over to sort of gently scratching his head for awhile and he got so relaxed. And then he said something to me that about made me cry. It seemed to come out of nowhere.
"When I was little, I used to feel like I could fly," he said.
"Oh, August, that's so beautiful and wonderful!" I told him.
And then he fell asleep too.
I hope I never forget that.
This morning came bright and early when Lily brought her three over and the pancake making began. After that, the action never stopped. They ran all over and around outside this house playing hide-n-seek and they helped Boppy hook the trailer to the 4-wheeler and all rode to the dump in that trailer. Owen assured me he would hold all of the children tight. There is a grill around the trailer and although my grandmother heart wasn't fully into the idea, I figured the block and a half they would be traversing would be okay. And it was.
Owen and his grandfather did what they had told me they'd do which was to put the heavy plants back on the porch which was a lot of work. That made me so happy.
Before too long, the game sort of segued into a drawing session.
Dang.
Saying good-bye to Jessie and the boys was hard because I won't see them for over a month as they are heading out tomorrow for North Carolina. August and Levon are so excited. And I am excited for them. I can't imagine anything better for that little family than to go spend summer on the mountain with Vergil's family. The mountain family.
Ah, sigh.
She is so dramatic. I love it.
I told her that the songs had been very sweet but no, I had not cried. I should probably have lied.
Tomorrow.
Reading your words I sometimes feel I can fly, too. They carry me along.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know how happy that makes me.
DeleteI used to dream I could fly. Now I dream that I can float, which is not quite as much fun as zooming around, but still pretty good. Beautiful family photos. Beautiful family!
ReplyDeleteFloating is so close to flying. When I am snorkeling, I always think that some of the fish look absolutely as if they are flying.
DeleteHa-ha! Nobody in England would ever yell, "You're letting out all the cold air!" It would always be "You're letting out all the warm air!" Love that picture at the end. Having followed your blog for quite a while now, I think I know your grand kids pretty well. It doesn't seem like five minutes ago that Levon and August were heading up to North Carolina but that was last year! Hey time! Slow down!
ReplyDeleteSeriously- time needs to slow the hell down.
DeleteWe also yell, "You're letting out all the warm air!" but only on about five days in January.
flying with all the love of family....it's almost overwhelming. Love the tales of your table and all the love and meals and communal joy it has provided. i have a similar table.......maple, with fold down leaves. I bought it for $20.00 when I was 20 years old. I am 69 now.......and that table has embraced not only our nightly dinners for 2.....but gatherings up to 16 people squeezed in for Thanksgiving and Christmas at times.......and I think of that often. Love it!
ReplyDeleteSusan M
Our tables can be the very centers of our family life, can't they?
DeletePS. surprised you didn't link the Stones Madrid opener from last night......*baby, you're out of time*. it was AWESOME to watch
ReplyDeleteI watched it this morning!
DeleteYour grandchildren are lucky to have you. Their time with you reminds me of the best parts of a book where grandma's house was magical. I never knew my grandparents but I wish I had.
ReplyDeleteI did know my maternal grandparents and am glad I did. They were nothing like the sort of grandparents that Glen and I are but they were there for me in their own way. I like to tell my grands about them.
DeleteGrandchildren are great but thank GAWD for Friday Night Martinis!
ReplyDeleteEspecially after a day and a night with grandchildren!
DeleteYour post was like a magic carpet ride. Soaring happiness.
ReplyDeleteMary
Oh, Mary. Thank you.
DeleteI love your porch. And I love that you love those grandchildren so much.
ReplyDeleteThey're such a part of me.
DeleteIt sounds like a very wonderful noisy fun-filled time. It's great when they all get along so well. Your porch looks lovely now all the plants are back.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty wonderful and it was definitely noisy! And fun, I think, especially for them. They get along beautifully. Almost shockingly so. I like my porch too!
DeleteI love those concrete steps up to your front porch. I often had all four grands out here for holiday weekends while they were still in school. Three days of riot, loved having them but usually glad for them to get collected at end. My first date with Marc was on a Sunday, the day he always went to visit his grandparents and he asked me if I minded if we went there first for a short visit. No, I didn't mind. She cornered me, I forget if she asked if we were gonna get married or she just told me but I stammered no, we were just friends. Later after we did decide to get married and a friend of my parents gave us an engagement party, I sat next to his grandmother and she said, see, I told you you were going to get married.
ReplyDeleteYes. Let us not lie. It is rather nice when the parents come to pick those babies up! What a story about your husband's grandma! I have a similar story in that Vergil's grandmother was there the night that Jessie and Vergil met and she told me that story through her own eyes. It ended with, "But once he saw Jessie, she was the only girl he danced with."
DeleteThat breakfast picture is a gem. The whole day was a gem.
ReplyDeleteYep! I got some good pictures.
DeleteGreat pictures! I especially love the one of Levon holding the globe. I remember having flying dreams (while asleep) when I was a child, but I don't think I've ever had them as an adult. Glad you got the porch sorted out. Now I know we're moving into summer, with Vergil and Jessie making their mountain pilgrimage.
ReplyDeleteI have had so very few flying dreams. You'd think with all of my dreaming, I would be granted one of those now and then, right?
DeleteYes, summer is here. The Weatherfords are heading toward the mountain.
Well I cried a little at what August said. That’s a lovely portrait of all your grandchildren, each with their own unique beauty. I love what Boud said about your writing, so true!
ReplyDeleteXoxo
Barbara
Isn't that the most beautiful thing? Not "I dreamed I could fly," but "I felt like I could fly." Oh, my heart!
DeleteThat was a day full of great fun! I love that photo of the kids on your front porch - perfect for framing!
ReplyDeleteNow I have that Led Zeppelin song in my mind:
"...you need, yeah, LLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Thank you so much for sharing your home with us. I don't have grandchildren, and probably won't. I do have a grand-cat :)
ReplyDeleteA Beautiful Family and a very Welcoming Jungle Porch, I Love it! I have some furniture that has dragged along with us from place to place and I just kept, if Memories are infused in Wood, the Stories those pieces could tell. And feeling like you could fly is indeed one of those comments a Child could make that would Touch the Heart!
ReplyDeleteI've said it a million times, but I just love reading your posts -- your words read like flying, actually! Or at least what I imagine it'd feel like to fly.
ReplyDeleteI love every word of this post. What joy and life and love fills your house. I think you need to frame that last photo of your five grandchildren. It's definitely a classic.
ReplyDelete