These ARE the Good Old Days...

A little over a year ago my grandmother passed.  I had been to plenty of viewings and funerals prior to, but this one was, well, different.  My grandmother lived with us since I was five.  She was extraordinary.

We all prepared ourselves for the first year of holidays without her here and I'd be lying if I say we didn't miss her cooking too.  For Thanksgiving we decided that we would do something different.  We would have our family dinner down at our shore house, her most favorite place.  The yams and stuffing were placed along the perimeter of the table leaving enough room in the center for the turkey to be reached equally be everyone.  And then we sat - in silence - creating that awkward moment where you know that everyone is thinking and feeling the same things and there is no need for anyone to speak it out loud.

My uncle sighed and spoke softly, "We always say what we are thankful for and reminisce about the 'good old days.'  We never think about how right now, this, us together here at this moment IS 'the good old days.'"

That was one of those moments that resonated with me and hit a place deep in my heart.  I started to think back to my childhood and all of the summer "vacations" (aka history lessons) my family would take each year to Williamsburg, Washington D.C. and Boston.  I really could care less that Paul Revere was captured during the Revolutionary War or that the tune to the Star-Spangled Banner was originally a British pub tune (my brother got a nasty elbow right in the stomach from my mom when he shouted out that fact at the fife and drum performance on Battle Road Trail). But then I realized that those are the moments we talk and laugh about when we gather together as a family.  And now each time we gather I wish I could bottle up each moment because I know they will soon be just memories, stories that will be told at the next holiday dinner.

So I know that sitting through the stifling heat and "suffering through" the summer family barbeques is torturous and that fighting the crowds to get the best seat for the fireworks or to just get a piece of Manco and Manco pizza (I'll never get used to that name change!) brings about complaints, some anxiety and impatience, but remind yourself that you are presently living what will soon become "the good old days."  And when your children are grown they will think back and remember the tantrum they threw on the boardwalk when you wouldn't let them get a hermit crab even though "every other kid on the boardwalk was allowed to" or the time when a wasp flew up Dad's shorts and he ran in circles through Glens Falls like a lunatic or even the time when mom embarrassed them by wearing a t-shirt with a giant pink flamingo on the front for the formal Captain's Dinner on the cruise to Bermuda.  These are the memories they will remember.  These are the memories that they will cherish.  So enjoy each moment of today, because today will be tomorrow's "good old days."