Randoms…they are really long…sorry <3
It’s Wednesday and if our house doesn’t blow away before I finish this, I am sharing five randoms of a Spring inspired walk down Memory Lane. So here we go off the top of my head…
Random #1
Back in the younger days of my culinary life, way back when we didn’t talk about things like cholesterol and hormones in our food, I had a favorite tradition.
I would look forward to a day when we would all be around home for dinner and not too much going on in the afternoon. It had to be a warmer day, but not too warm. The kind of pre-allergy days when we liked to have our windows open between winter heat and summer air conditioning.
The menu was my grandma’s fried chicken recipe, lumpy gravy, mashed potatoes and whatever vegetable would add some color to the plate and my family would eat. I am going with green beans, although actually we had children that gagged on these. So I probably would have thrown corn in with them to appease that population.
It was a messy meal, but so good. I don’t know when I last coated and fried chicken in a cast iron skillet, but I am longing to recreate that memory this spring.
Random #2
Graham got popped in the nose and mouth pretty significantly playing kickball last weekend. He has braces, so as we commiserated with the resulting bloody nose, I was eyeing the puffed lips and asked him if it had hurt against his gums. Very much so, he said.
It made me think of his Uncle John playing soccer in braces. He had been much younger than Graham at the time. Thanks to some sort of genetic twist, he managed to get any and all dental problems from both sides of the family tree. He was probably just six or seven and already had a full set of braces.
At one game a ball made a direct hit to his face. John had a high pain tolerance but melted from the insult to such a tender area. As I rose out of my chair, trying to decide the quickest way around the field to get to him, his coach came running on to the field and picked him up.
John was always at the upper end of height for his age, but this coach didn’t hesitate as he lifted him up and carried him to the sideline so tenderly. He was a firefighter by occupation and earned a place of honor in my heart from that day forward for his care of John in the moment.
People who show kindness towards our children are a treasure.
Random #3
The same grandma whose fried chicken recipe is stirring in my mind lived in the tiniest little house with her unmarried daughter, my Aunt Lizzie. It was a brick two story, with the second story being the most amazing attic ever in the history of the world. It was only rivaled by an equally intriguing basement.
A small backyard was edged along the narrow driveway with cornflowers that grew tall every summer. At the far back was a small paved patio with a free standing bench swing that was framed by a hedge separating her yard from the lot behind it. For a book-loving, daydreaming kid like me, it was paradise.
She grew hens and chickens in funny pots with little side windows around the bowl and up against the house and along the neighboring fence were all kinds of flowering plants. But the memory I love the best is the one where the Lily of the Valley sprouted up every year. My dad usually made sure we visited my grandma and aunt around Easter so my mom could be with her family.
And so it was that I came to associate Muguet, my preferred name for this delicate, bell shaped fairy flower, with Easter. My random comes from one particular spring when Easter came earlier on the calendar. It had been colder and there was no sign of those delightful blooms when we got to Louisville.
In talking with my grandma I was assured that they would not make an appearance that year until later, after we were gone back home. With the faith of a child, and respect for her, I listened to what she said, but in my heart believed they would bloom Easter morning.
They did.
I have no idea what the sermon was, where my Easter basket was hidden or what we ate for lunch, but those impossible, no way can they bloom white bells shocking my grandma as she laughed along with me to see them is one of my stones in the Jordan.
God can do anything <3
Random #4
Another spring flower appearance spoke of His love and encouragement to me in the landscaping of another house many years later.
In 1996, we had been looking at houses on the East side of town. We wanted to move to a different area and found the perfect house. We decided to try and sell ours by owner. The saga that ensued lasted three years and God did many wonderful things, but suffice to say we owned two homes for that amount of time.
We purchased the second home in the fall and Russ suggested we go over and plant tulips in the area by the front porch to help the kids feel like that was going to be our home. They started attending their new school and we made the slow process of packing and moving, finally vacating house #1 after Christmas that year.
It was a rough winter with so much snow, and since I was a stay home mom and had the time, I would shovel our driveway and then go shovel that one. We also had a window well in the old house that collected water and we would scoop out with a bucket (side note, we did get this repaired that summer).
Storms and such had me fretting over two houses, one a bit of a jaunt away.
And so one spring morning, I was weary. I did my morning devotions and cried out my prayers. I basically told God I couldn’t take any more. He told me He knew exactly what I could take.
And then I went outside to do something and there in the cold soil were three little tulip plants poking their heads up. A reminder of Russ taking us over to plant them. Long forgotten and yet, there they were. Promising hope and life.
I always say, I had no idea how long it would be for owing to two homes at that moment, but I knew we would be okay. And we were. God did so many amazing things for us in that season. Like the tulips, we all grew better and stronger and He showed up in countless ways to carry us and delight us.
Random #5
Last memory was from an Easter at the house #1 from the previous random. We always dyed eggs the Saturday before Easter and then it was those that got hidden for the pre-church hunt.
Only one year in that house were able to hold our hunt outside due to weather always being terrible or traveling.
It is one of my favorite Easter memories. The kids were just the right age and they were so cute with their baskets out around our house. I love the photos of them from that day. Something about outdoor lighting that is just the best.
This year Sarah said she was remembering that hunt and we shared some joy as I remember it every year.
Good memories. Good times.
I hope your spring is full of some special memories this year.
Have a blessed day <3