I just finished a book entitled "Labor Day" by Joyce Maynard. It is a quick and delightful read but with a lot of lessons and insights about life and "growing up". A particular quote turned out to have great meaning for me. It high lighted the truly important things in a man's life. The main character in the novel is a young boy growing up in a single parent environment, i.e. his mother who it so happens is weird at many levels ~ but lovable. She doesn't appear to really like men at this particular point in her life. But, when she does fall "back" in love she does so hard and with the most unlikely of men. He turns out to be a "gem". At one point in the story he takes an over abundance of peaches and makes a peach pie. After the man has finished making the pie and placing it in the oven he says to the young boy,
Forty-five minutes from now, we'll have ourselves a pie ... . My grandma had a saying: even the richest man in America isn't eating tastier pie than we are tonight. That will be so for us.
Last weekend I went to the upper St. Joe River for a bit of fly fishing. On the way to the river I stopped at my daughter Jennie's home in Plummer. We made arrangements for her to drive up in two days to where I would be camped. She would bring my grandchildren Kimmie and Brandon with her, fish with me for a couple of hours, then leave the kids with grandpa, and return to Plummer which happens to be about 85 miles from where I camp while fishing. The kids would then spend the night with me and we would return the following day to Plummer.
All went according to plan with the additional joy that she and Les, my son-in-law, were able to bring the kids up. They left at about mid-afternoon for Plummer and the kids and I continued fishing for a couple of hours and returned to camp for dinner and a fire side chat ~ unfortunately, as I had commented earlier to Jennie, I had forgotten to pick up marshmallows. Even without the marshmallows for somemores we had a great time building the campfire and poking at it every fifteen seconds to, as Brandon explained, "keep it going". At about 9:00 we (I) decided it was time to put out the fire and head for bed. After about forty-five minutes, a little "rassling" and talking the kids were finally settled down. As they drifted off to sleep and as I lay in bed finishing the above mentioned novel, I heard this knock on the camper door. My first thought was "there must be some sort of trouble in camp!" We opened the door and there in the moonlight were Jennie and Les ~ Jennie holding a package of marshmallows. Jennie says "we got the marshmallows. You got the fire?" I said, "what are you guys doing?!" Les says, "making memories." They had driven all the way back to Plummer to an empty house and had decided that they would rather be with us. They feed their animals, secured the house, and drove all the way back to be with us. As Les said, for the day, it wasn't any more miles than driving to Seattle. What a surprise! They had brought their tent with them and were ready to spend the night with us ~ which they did.
The next morning as we sat around the"conversation circle of camp chairs" drinking our morning coffee, I thought, even the richest man in America isn't enjoying a better cup of coffee than I am right now.
Forty-five minutes from now, we'll have ourselves a pie ... . My grandma had a saying: even the richest man in America isn't eating tastier pie than we are tonight. That will be so for us.
Last weekend I went to the upper St. Joe River for a bit of fly fishing. On the way to the river I stopped at my daughter Jennie's home in Plummer. We made arrangements for her to drive up in two days to where I would be camped. She would bring my grandchildren Kimmie and Brandon with her, fish with me for a couple of hours, then leave the kids with grandpa, and return to Plummer which happens to be about 85 miles from where I camp while fishing. The kids would then spend the night with me and we would return the following day to Plummer.
All went according to plan with the additional joy that she and Les, my son-in-law, were able to bring the kids up. They left at about mid-afternoon for Plummer and the kids and I continued fishing for a couple of hours and returned to camp for dinner and a fire side chat ~ unfortunately, as I had commented earlier to Jennie, I had forgotten to pick up marshmallows. Even without the marshmallows for somemores we had a great time building the campfire and poking at it every fifteen seconds to, as Brandon explained, "keep it going". At about 9:00 we (I) decided it was time to put out the fire and head for bed. After about forty-five minutes, a little "rassling" and talking the kids were finally settled down. As they drifted off to sleep and as I lay in bed finishing the above mentioned novel, I heard this knock on the camper door. My first thought was "there must be some sort of trouble in camp!" We opened the door and there in the moonlight were Jennie and Les ~ Jennie holding a package of marshmallows. Jennie says "we got the marshmallows. You got the fire?" I said, "what are you guys doing?!" Les says, "making memories." They had driven all the way back to Plummer to an empty house and had decided that they would rather be with us. They feed their animals, secured the house, and drove all the way back to be with us. As Les said, for the day, it wasn't any more miles than driving to Seattle. What a surprise! They had brought their tent with them and were ready to spend the night with us ~ which they did.
The next morning as we sat around the"conversation circle of camp chairs" drinking our morning coffee, I thought, even the richest man in America isn't enjoying a better cup of coffee than I am right now.
Gordon, that is lovely. So important to know those special moments when they are happening. You are a rich man!
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