Generations (BY DANIELLE)

 It finally happened. The family celebration moved to the home of one of my kids. Not only that,
one of my grandkids picked up some of the supplies and drove them there! I got to attend a
family get together and then go home to a house that didn’t smell of a week’s cooking. It is a
miracle.
It is not as if I was unaware that both of these younger generations are fully functioning adults. It
is just that I never thought it applied to my relinquishing control – and work! Yes, the food was
different from the meals I tried (and rarely succeeded) to reproduce from my mother’s recipes.
Yes, people were sitting with paper plates on their laps. But also, yes, everyone was smiling and
laughing and telling funny stories, just happy to spend time together as a family.
Some of us remember thinking that those screaming kids were going to be small and smelly
forever. But not only do they grow up, they actually become what you always hoped they would
– people who have independent lives who care for and love one another. There is certainly no
better gift than that.