Yesterday marked 100 months of marriage and I initially had great plans to celebrate the occasion with a romantic dinner à deux.
However, as events transpired we ended up celebrating the birthdays of my daughter N (I invariably take out the step for I consider her the daughter of my heart) and grandson J. It was fitting for the procreative nature of marriage gives rise to the beautiful multiplication of numbers crossing generations within a single family. I consider myself extremely blessed to be able to participate so fully in family life in my late vocation of wife and mother.
Sarah laughed in disbelief when she heard the stranger’s prophetic message that she would have a child (Genesis, chapter 18). There is still an element of disbelief on my part that I, too, could be “fruitful”, but mostly I laugh with delight at how full my cup is with P and my instant family.
I would like to remember this special day, filled with very ordinary things that made it extraordinary.
I awakened to the sound of my grandson’s voice, after which I quickly went downstairs to make breakfast pancakes for the grandkids. Then I dropped C off for her netball lesson before coming home to sit with J as he did worksheets and we did some coordination exercises before N came to pick him up.
P and I went for a quick breakfast before I drove to church to join the meeting of all liturgical ministries participating in Holy Week as well as the lectors’ meeting that followed after.
When I got home, P and I had to go pick up J’s birthday cake which I had ordered earlier in the week. He wanted a Cookies n Cream (his fave) ice cream cake as he didn’t like cake cake.
We brought the cake home then got ready for pickle ball in the sweltering heat. It was an indoor court but. boy, did we sweat buckets.
After an hour of play we got home, showered , and soon it was time to go pick dinner up. It was raining by then but I prayed A’s good weather prayer and truly the rain lightened considerably when we had to cart the food to the car, and when we got home.
Then it was dinner time which was a lovely evening of good food and family bonding. I had made a tiramisu for N’s birthday cake (her fave), so there was the obligatory celebratory sugar overload.
P and I were both pooped after our long and busy day. But we ended it with our consecration prayer to Mary which we repeat every 12th of the month, invoking the memory of the day we first did our consecration to our Mother on our wedding day.
It is late, and I have to proclaim the Word at Palm Sunday mass in several hours’ time, so I shall end here. Thank you, Lord, for the last 100 months of blessings and I look forward to the next 100 with great anticipation and pleasure.
