My Sunday started with a swig of tea, a stroll to our cabin window to check out the view, strawberry rhubarb yogurt, a handful of grapes , some lively morning conversation and a slow walk through the woods.
How extraordinary, I thought. How soul-soothingly beautiful to turn our faces toward the sun in step with the people we love. These are the richest moments we humans can enjoy and they don’t cost us a thing except the energy we store to savor them.
Of course, the people with whom I shared my magical morning moments made them even more sublime.
My daughter Katherine’s early birthday present from her boyfriend Ed, a surprise trip home to Wisconsin, turned out to be a gift for me as well. I knew it would.
I’d started counting off the days until this weekend midway through my text conversation with Ed on New Year’s Eve. Covid sabotaged their Christmas visit and, while I kept talking about a Christmas Mulligan, Ed is the one who made it happen.
I wore my Christmas 2021 T-shirt to the airport to pick them up and could not contain my glee when I spotted them three doors down from where I parked at Mitchell Airport.
“I’m here!” I waved. “Over here! Woo hoo! Welcome home!”
Eventually, after a seven-hour drive home from Minneapolis through snow squalls, around closed highways and in the midst of three severe weather alerts, Molly joined us as well.
“Oh hey! I brought this for you,” she said, and pulled a beautiful homemade chocolate babka out of her backpack.
The rest of the weekend past in a blur of laughter, cooking, silly games and stories.
My family is currently scattered from coast-to-coast in the U.S., with a son and daughter in-law currently living in Chile. So, I’m already primed to cherish my time with them and I do.
When they’re here and the sun rises on a particularly beautiful Wisconsin morning, I am especially thrilled.
I hope you, too, found some moments of extraordinary joy in ordinary moments this weekend.
