Melethwen's Memories: Party On!

Finally, my birthday party, combined with a Labor Day barbecue!

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Although my birthday was on Friday and although we'd already celebrated somewhat with a dinner at El Rancho, my actual birthday party with the entire family had to wait until our usual Sunday dinner. Work schedules always make gatherings a bit more complicated than they were when the kids were little.

Sunday started off rather differently. Our church ward got a brand new Relief Society presidency, and I was sustained and set apart as the new Relief Society secretary. For those unfamiliar with our faith, Relief Society is a women's organization dedicated to serving the physical and spiritual needs of the women and families of our ward (and often the men, too). I'm excited to work with the new president and her counselors, all of whom are warm and wonderful ladies. The new president is, in fact, my friend Karen, whom you may have read about in my last post, along with Megan, Karen's new second counselor. Rounding out the team as first counselor is my friend, Liz, another recently-retired teacher (except she got to retire one year before I did). This calling will likely be a roller coaster ride of challenges and blessings, but I can't think of any other group of ladies with whom I'd rather share the experience.

I got an unexpected blessing when church ended and we all met at the office of Bishop Berges to be officially "set apart" for our new callings. For a moment it really hit me that I was alone. The other women had their husbands there to participate with them, and Megan's two daughters also joined in (the rest of us have empty nests). In the past, I'd always had the support of my children and usually a husband, but now it came as a little shock that there was no one there for me. (Just a note: Mark works on Sundays or he'd have been glad to be there, even though we're not married anymore.)

I shrugged off the jolt of that realization and settled into a chair in the bishop's office, ready to await my turn. Then, just before they closed the door, I looked up and saw my daughter Sarah in the doorway, holding a little boy by the hand. My heart was so happy to see her there! She asked me, "Did you say something to me?" I didn't know what she was talking about, because I hadn't even known she was nearby.

Sarah had actually attended my ward that morning so she could be with me when I was sustained in sacrament meeting. However, when my church was over she had to go on to her own ward (which meets in the same building as mine), where she serves in the nursery, caring for the little ones while their parents go to their Sunday school, priesthood, and relief society classes. She told me later that she'd taken the young boy to the restroom, and when they'd come back out she saw me at the other end of the hall, waiting for my bishop. She was sure I'd looked right at her and said something she couldn't hear, so she'd walked down to see if I needed anything. As soon as Bishop Berges saw her there, he invited her into his office to join us. Suddenly it wasn't just me anymore.

I know this was more than mere coincidence. It was a tender mercy of the Lord, sending my daughter to me so I wouldn't feel abandoned. Because I truly never even saw her in the hall. And that little boy was angelic, sitting on Sarah's lap, perfectly quiet through the time it took to accomplish four setting-aparts! It may not have been an earth-shattering moment to the world, but for me it was a welcome little miracle.

Dinner featured homemade potato salad and grilled London broil steaks.

Our family party was that same evening. In honor of Labor Day being the following day, we had our Labor Day barbecue along with my birthday celebration. As soon as the kids arrived around 5:00, they helped me finish cutting up the vegetables for the potato salad while Mark grilled the steaks. Then we all sat down to enjoy a typically rowdy meal together.

I wasn't actually born on Labor Day, of course. In 1954, September 1st fell on a Wednesday, so Labor Day was still five days away. Still, I've always felt it was appropriate that my birthday falls on or near Labor Day weekend most years. It always reminds me that my sixteen-year-old mother endured seventy-two hours of difficult labor to bring her firstborn--me--into the world.

My long-awaited gift from Dylan and Jake.

I'd made my birthday cheesecake on Saturday night (always tastier if it sits and "ripens" for twenty-four hours or so before serving), but we still had the homemade ice cream to tackle. So I got that going as soon as we were done with dinner. Then Mark took over the ice-and-rock-salt duty, and we cleared the table for the opening of the gifts while the ice cream freezer droned on in the background.

I read my cards aloud, with feeling. This one was from Sarah and Chris.

Each gift this year was exceptionally thoughtful, and I loved them all. Dylan and Jake gave me a frame-mounted canvas print of a photo Dylan took about two years ago. With his then-new camera, he captured an amazing view of the Milky Way that I instantly fell in love with. I've been bugging him ever since to make a poster of the photo for me, and he finally delivered!

From Mark, I ended up with two new nightgowns.

Mark gave me a cute pair of pajamas with a tiny blue-floral print. However, since I don't sleep in pajamas (the pants always seem to get twisted around my legs), he went with me two days later to exchange the pajamas for a nightgown. I'm not really a person of expensive tastes, so I was able to buy two nightgowns for the price he'd paid for the pajamas. Thus, it was a great gift!

Lord of the Rings prints from Sarah and Chris. I love them!

My children know better than anyone how much I love science fiction and fantasy, and that I have a particular affinity for the Elves of Tolkien's universe. I've been dropping hints for gift ideas on Facebook for months, and Sarah and Chris took me up on one of them.

And Sarah chose my favorite of all the possibilities: a set of five canvas prints depicting the village of Imladris (usually better known as Rivendell) from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Rivendell is governed by the Elf lord Elrond, whose daughter Arwen marries Aragorn. It's also the setting of the Council of the Ring, where Frodo agrees to bear the One Ring back to Mount Doom in Mordor.

This is the entire painting from which the five prints are derived.

To make these prints, the painting above was broken up into five parts, with the center piece being quite tall, the two on either side of it being somewhat smaller, and the final two outer prints being smaller yet. It's very effective how all five prints flow into one another, presenting the entire image. Now I just have to find an inexpensive way to stretch the canvases onto wood frames...and then find a place in my small house to hang them!

Here's a better view of the center panel, printed on canvas.

The Rivendell canvas prints came all the way from China!

Jacob tells me he has a birthday present for me, too, but he will bring it with him to our family vacation in Northern California in a few weeks. We'll be meeting up at my cousin Craig's home in Woodland, CA, on the afternoon of October 1st, just twenty-five days from now! I guess I can wait that much longer...

All of my beautiful birthday cards for 2017!

For dessert, homemade sugar-free chocolate-chip cheesecake.

We ended the evening with my favorite desserts: cheesecake and homemade ice cream (both sugar-free). They were delicious, if I do say so myself! I savored every bit, because we don't make homemade ice cream very often, usually only two or three times each summer. That means we are facing a long, homemade-ice-cream-free fall, winter, and spring!

It's been a wonderful birthday adventure this year, and I thank each family member and friend for making me feel loved and special throughout it all! You're all amazing!