Sunday, May 28, 2023

A Smelly Sort of Togetherness or Lay Down and Get to Work

It certainly looks like we were sweeter when we were younger. Even Mom has ornery in her eyes some sixty years later. I think we all were less concerned about our hairstyle be this later picture. I love that Teri’s hair looks curly when it was actually so straight. She got Dad’s thick hair while I was gifted with Mom’s thin curly hair. Funny how we always long for what the other sibling has. Dad’s blue eyes and Friedman thinness was Teri’s but I got his generous heart and the never meet a stranger gene. Those both make up for the Peabody chubby that I have battled my whole life. Both our parents were hard workers so both of us took on any challenge with sleeves rolled up. 

The best example of that is the time that we discovered the sewer pipe under out vacation trailer in Oak Creek had disintegrated. Let’s just say there was a few summers worth of processed food and drink to clean up under there. Teri and I both got on plastic on our bellies and dug in literally with plastic pails and shovels to rid out the excrement. Mom stood by to empty the not so sweet smelling buckets we handed out when they were full. It took a couple hours but can I just say that besides over the stench and being wedged in a small, dark place, there was insatiable laughter. The situation was definitely one that we never envisioned ourselves in. Needless, to say the guys replaced the pipe after we completed the cleanup. Yes, we threw the plastic toys turned tools away and bought new ones for the kids to use at the creek. That may not have been our favorite family weekend in Oak Creek but it was certainly one of the most memorable. It still makes me laugh when I think of it. 


Now it is just me here in Oak Creek knowing that the ashes of my mom, dad, and sister sweeten the blackberries with their ashes. I am beyond grateful for the love and laughter that we shared at this retreat that mom and dad purchased when I was only in sixth grade. It is where we still come together as a family and sit around a picnic table playing cards and filling the air with laughter. The smell is a bit sweeter these days due to the hysterical time Teri and I found ourselves laying on our bellies, side by side doing what needed to be done. Now that is sister bonding at its best!?! Some day I will join them in the berry patch but that day can wait for God’s timing. Until then I will cling to the memories of growing up in such an incredible place. 

Sharing it with our kids, grandkids and now great grands is worth any smelly situation.


In Him,

Joyful

5-28-23

 

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