Family Days

Its only taken me a year and a half to finally getting around to posting to this blog, but a start at least!

Yesterday became a day of gentle surprises. My niece celebrated her first communion. It being May , forces were divided as more than one celebration was being marked. My traveling companion (No. 1 Son) was in soulful mood and DJ for the day. By the time we reached the outskirts of Athlone, my pride in the wisdom of his age had turned to near awe.

Once religious matters were concluded, my Sister entertained family and friends in her usual understated but thoughtful style. Mountains of lovely food available, but never forced, throughout the day, a constant flow of tea, coffee and wine and the ebb and flow of friendly conversation as family, friends and neighbours joined the gathering. The surprise arrival of the Ice Cream Van from "town" lit little faces with sunshine that was quickly clouded by melted whiteness and caused adults to recalculate their exercise plans for the week and maybe regret that they'd already exceeded a month's sugar quota with the cheese cake, banoffi and piles of other home baked goodies.

Embarrassed to say I am without a camera at the moment, a digital one at any rate, so there are no pictures to share but I'm not sure that I could ever have captured the highlight of the evening. Once the "Daddies vs Kids" match had concluded (featuring a truly vicious tackle by the four year old nephew taking out and tumbling his dad in spectacular fashion) pressure mounted for a "Moms vs Kids" game.

And what a game! I'm not sure my sisters ever played football when we were kids. In fact I'm pretty sure they didn't, but watching them play, supplemented with local friends and in-laws, had me traveling through time again. Aside from the unexpected skill, and the commitment by some players to "never playing the ball when you can play the man instead", there was something magical about the joy and energy of the thing as they whooped, cheered, skipped and kicked in flashing colour and clacking pearls. You simply couldn't watch them being kids and not feel like one yourself, in a very heart warming, life affirming way.