This past weekend I invited thirty family members over to my house to celebrate my daughter’s sixteenth birthday. I had spent the last month planning everything. I’d put together the perfect menu, purchased beautiful outdoor decorations, and even borrowed twelve folding chairs from my Aunt Judy. It was going to be the best party ever and I wanted everything to be just perfect!
Since this is the end of April, it can be a bit tricky planning anything outdoors here in Western Washington. So I’d been glued to the weather report all week long.
The morning of the party, I made my usual cup of tea and sat on the back porch. Max, our dog, followed me. “Looks pretty good to me old boy,” I told him as I looked up at the gray sky. He tuned and went back in the house. Never a good sign.
A few hours later my family arrived as the rain started to fall. I was a frantic mess. How could we barbeque now? For two hours we ate from the vegetable and fruit trays I’d prepared and waited for a clearing. When our chance came, the grill was lit and an assembly line was created from grill to table to plates.
As soon as the last burger was off the grill, a downpour of hail and rain mix flooded the driveway. We sat at the front window marveling at its force while mustard dripped down our chins.
When my family had said their goodbyes, and I was cleaning up the mess, I realized how perfect the day had been. We’d spent so much time in the house talking, laughing, and catching up that no one really cared about the weather. It was the fact that we were together that made the day so special.
Here’s to the best laid plans of mice and men. May they forever go awry’. For it isn’t the things we do or the party’s we have that make life so sweet, It’s spending time with the people who make us happy..the ones we love.