We just had a warm visit from one of our church friends, who said she had been meaning to come by for 2 1/2 years. This friend was one of the first we got to know five years ago. She even invited us to her house for dessert that Thanksgiving, having known us only a few weeks. We loved her mincemeat pie and now try to make one every year. She also had us over for a quilting lesson, which helped with the completion of my first quilt.
Today, she stopped by with books for the kids and some homemade marmalade for me. She says she just boils up any kind of orange in sugar while she is sterilizing the jars and then--BAM!--yummy, homemade marmalade. No stress, no fuss. Of course, she's probably been canning for years, in addition to quilting and cooking, but it's inspiring to be reminded that things that seem so foreign or challenging can be quite easy. She's always so calm and relaxed. I never know what she's going to say and she's never what I expect from someone her age. I have made this mistake before. Yes, like most members of younger generations, I can be agist, but I have certainly learned how wrong that is. Now that I'm older! But often it seems that her approach to life and to parenting have been way ahead of what I think of her time. Though, maybe that's because I've been wrong in my assumptions about her time all along.
So, I'm glad that she came and sat with us for an hour and that the kiddos, who were busy eating for the first half of the visit but played with her during the second (probably surprised to see someone from church in our house), got to spend extended time (and not just fellowship at church, where they know several of our older lady contingent) with someone from another generation, someone who isn't quite old enough to be their great-grandmother, but almost. Especially because, to use a phrase from my generation, she's so cool. And her marmalade is great!
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