July 17, 2023

For Celebration

Now is the time to free the heart,
Let all intentions and worries stop,
Free the joy inside the self,
Awaken to the wonder of your life.

Open your eyes and see the friends
Whose hearts recognize your face as kin,
Those whose kindness watchful and near,
Encourages you to live everything here.

See the gifts the years have given,
Things your effort could never earn,
The health to enjoy who you want to be
And the mind to mirror mystery.
		John O’Donohue 
                To Bless the Space
                Between Us, A Book of Blessings


		

How close the words “celebration” and “blessings” feel to me.

This past weekend our family gathered to celebrate my husband’s and my 75th birthdays. Bruce’s is later this month, and mine was in April. When our family asked how we wanted to celebrate this milestone birthday, we expressed our desire for all of us to simply be together, to have time to enjoy one’s company, to be in each other’s presence.

That is not as easy as it sounds. Our son Geof and daughter-in-love Cricket live in Cleveland and have demanding jobs and a busy life. Our St Paul family, daughter Kate, son-in-love Mike and our grandkids, Pete and Maren juggle MANY balls, including Pete’s summer baseball and football training schedules.

Yes, finding a time when we could all be together was challenging. Yesterday Pete left on a 19-day hiking trip in the Rockies and could Maren manage some time away from her summer job at Northern Lights, a YMCA family camp in northern Minnesota? She leaves for a semester in Greece at the end of August and won’t be home till Christmas, so being together seemed even more important.

Thanks to everyone’s cooperation and Kate and Cricket’s organizational skills, the weekend happened, and it truly was a celebration. A blessing to be held tenderly and lovingly in our hearts and memories.

The “doing” was great fun–going to Pete’s last baseball game followed by pizza at a local brewery, a Saturday pontoon cruise on White Bear Lake (Maren was our captain because one of her jobs as director of outdoor activities at camp is to be in charge of the pontoons); dinner at an excellent restaurant, The Lexington or “The Lex,” a St Paul tradition; church where we filled an entire pew and introduced Geof and Cricket to that loving community; lunch at Kate and Mike’s club (we had intended a poolside afternoon, but it was too cool); and an evening movie, Mission Impossible, at the iconic Riverview movie theater, which has the best popcorn anywhere.

Even more special than the “doing” was the “being.” The being together. The laughing. The catching-up and the connecting. The strengthening of our bonds of love. The opportunity to know one another more deeply–who we are now and the ground and the paths that brought us to this point.

At one point I asked everyone to tell about a memorable birthday. Interestingly, several of us shared stories about our 40th birthday celebrations. For example, Bruce and I each had surprise birthday parties for each other. That topic led to more stories about memorable celebrations and tales about earlier years. Throughout the weekend I kept thinking about other memorable birthdays like my 50th when we visited Kate and Mike in Tanzania where they did mission work for a year and more recently the 70th birthday party they had for us, inviting friends and family.

I thought about how in past years we have celebrated those who now are no longer physically with us, but also how Pete and Maren have so much living ahead of them–celebrations, along with unwanted changes and challenges. More and more I feel the blending of past, present, and future, but perhaps this is a topic for another day.

Often on a birthday card I write, “May you feel celebrated.” Well, Bruce and I felt celebrated, for sure, but I think what was really celebrated was the love and acceptance and joy of our family’s ongoing life. What a blessing that is.

An Invitation

What have you celebrated recently? How was that a blessing in your life? I would love to know.