I used to hate change. I was the kind of kid who cried when they changed the lineup on the Saturday morning cartoons. I liked my schedule. I still do. As an adult, nothing made me antsier than getting into work with my full day planned out and then someone dragging me into an emergency meeting….and to have my entire plan thrown out the window to deal with a crisis.
But change can be good!
My sister and my niece were planning a visit this weekend. I was already so happy and excited to welcome them here. But them Mary called yesterday to say that my nephew is home early from summer camp, and he will join us. Hurray! Part of the New York branch of the family heading down south to visit with the southern branch. Now we scramble to find a sleeping bag and an extra pillow for Matt. There’s always the couch….
Then my phone rang and it is my Virginia-based brother….I had invited his family to join us for a barbecue on Sunday, but from my conversation with my sister in law I thought maybe only he could come. Nope, not just my brother, but his entire family, including my niece and her husband and my grand-nephew. So suddenly I am welcoming half of my siblings and their children into my home, and I couldn’t be happier!
Changes can be good. When I was growing up, a family party consisted of dozens and dozens of extended family. Being one of five children, with my grandmother living with us, we were 8 people living in a tiny house…then you added my mom’s sister and her family of four….and then the great-aunts and uncles. Oh boy, that little house was filled to overflowing. My grandmother was one of 11, my grandfather one of 13 kids, so you can image that when the great aunts and uncles arrived with THEIR families….it was standing room only. Literally. No way we had enough chairs.
During one memorable party, my sisters still remember playing in the hot, dusty attic. It was the only space available in a house filled to the brim with adults that was free for the kids!
I grew up learning to cook for an ARMY. John still complains about the leftovers. Try as I might, I still can’t quite learn to cook for three. Luckily Shadow likes leftovers.
Philosophers tell us that the only thing constant in the universe is change. Looking out my window at the flower garden – the one next to the driveway that I went crazy weeding this past week – I can mark the slow, steady progression of blossoms like days ticked off on a calendar. The white and purple and pink of spring have turned into the hot yellows and oranges of the midsummer garden. My hollyhocks have faded, and now the daylilies, Rudbeckia, and marigolds hold court. The Phoebes fledged their young off of the ceiling fan and yesterday we spent an hour cleaning up after them (we had to take apart the ceiling fan to get it clean).
Time marches on…and we go with it, or we fight it. My garden never fights change. The flowers bloom, fade and move on. Sometimes I think I need to learn what my garden has to teach me.
