A little trip down memory lane to a quiet spot on the Journey that I am missing lately <3
Maybe it was walking through a cemetery on Memorial Day. Maybe it’s the passage of another round of birthdays for the two oldest in the band of brothers, which will be followed in short order by our Sweet Caroline turning seven in a few weeks. Maybe it was another Mother’s Day where we didn’t buy cards or make calls to our moms.
But I have been thinking about our parents a lot the past week. Memories of all four and their very different personalities and they way the loved us, but showed it in ways that are not the same as how we show love to our three plus the additional people they have brought into our hearts.
And if ever there was a prize for a run-on sentence, that last one wins it, but I have not time nor interest to edit it.
No, because I want to share the memory of Russ’s parents that has popped into my head as we have rushed out the door numerous times the past week.
Because the senior Reimers did not rush.
And one of my favorite times spent on visits with them was when we were all sitting around in the living room and someone would spy a car rolling in the driveway through the big picture window. Whatever relative it was, we would all rise and greet them and make our way to the kitchen where the coffee percolator was filled and plugged in.
Soon a “lunch” would be spread out on the lace tablecloth. Chairs were pulled up around the spread and coffee was poured from a never ending supply.
Cold cuts from the deli, a chunk of cheese on a wooden board with a knife for cutting, homemade bread sliced, jam from the fruit of last summer in a jar, the inevitable salads concocted from cucumber, onion and tomatoes and some kind of cookies and sweet bread from the freezer made their way to join the cups of coffee.
Everyone would pull up chairs and nibble and chat. Stories were repeated with little variance of the details. New stories were added and commented on. Our three would run in and out and answer questions or climb on laps.
Time stood still and there was always plenty of it for a drop in visit. I knew Russ’s aunts and uncles as best we could living so far away from these visits around that table that was laden with food and love and I am so grateful. Whether through their presence, or the accounts of them as the family reminisced, their stories were woven into mine.
Russ’s mom was the polar opposite of me, quick to listen and slow to speak. As all the bantering went about, I could just watch those gentle blue as violet eyes and know what she was thinking.
If I could sit across from her one more time, I would even eat a piece of rhubarb crumble and not wince or complain.
And that’s saying a lot….cause that and the cucumber salad and Rullepølse lunch meat were a couple of things this Kentucky girl had to take in smalllll doses.
But the company was so sweet and the memories are sweeter still and in the hustle and bustle of life lived in the fast lane, they are a lovely rest stop for my heart to linger and be grateful for <3