Guests: Another precious week with Aunt Eleanor (Round 3!)

Where do I even start? Hopefully these pictures are worth more than a thousand words, as I'm not sure I have a thousand in me any more tonight! That said, once I get going the words normally start flowing. We are at the end of our "rounds of visitors" for October. As of late afternoon today my parents once again are occupying their in-law quarters after traveling over 5000 miles these last few weeks!

Last evening we said goodbye for now to Aunt Eleanor. It was another really special week and we'll eagerly anticipate the next time in the not too distant future. She is about the easiest house guest to have in our midst, except that she doesn't eat enough! :) We had told her she needed to try to keep up with the guests before her in noise level and helping us consume our food, but we gave her an impossible task!

I still feel guilty when we have days where we are buzzing around most of the day and don't get a chance to sit and chat or do things together until evening. But I'm so glad she feels free to sit and read or puzzle or explore outside or sit on the porch swing and gaze at the mountain. She was also eager to pitch in if we had a task for her to help with, but we also didn't have to twist her arm to NOT wash our mountains of dishes. 

The good thing about having a full week together was that even with pockets that were kinda chaotic or full for us, we still were able to pack a lot of fun and meaningful connection into our times together. As always we tried some new foods (browned butter or raw turnips with salt) and watched some new things (Shirley Temple's Heidi movie) and heard some new stories and laughed at what I'm now calling "Eleanorisms." I'm not at all surprised that she has been considered a funny person that makes people laugh since she was little. At 96 she still adds considerable laughter to any space she is in!

I think I've mentioned here that I'm currently taking a class called Power in Pleasure. At various points in the week we are asked to think of people that embody different things for us. I was very keenly aware this week that my Great Aunt Eleanor is someone that models embodiment for me and being attuned and present to all of one's senses and living fully in each moment. It's really beautiful and inspiring. Here's she relishing eating raw turnips with salt while she reads through yet another one of our blog books! Below are some of my other favorite moments of the week!

She was itching one day to "do something" and so she cleaned our shoe shelf corner in the dining room - I would not have suggested such a grungy job, but she certainly could feel successful! On another day she helped sift a bunch of corn and wheat flour. This was before I got fed up with our system and gave up finishing that project for the day (more on that in another post!).

There was lots of puzzling upstairs and downstairs!

And lots of reading! When I found her sitting on the floor by our kids' books I told her I hoped I could sit like that if I make it to 96. She replied, "You haven't seen me get up yet." But she gets up just fine! Actually now that I think about it, I can't really sit like that now at 44!

We enjoyed good times outdoors - at the picnic table, at the swing set, around the fire ring. 

And many fun mealtimes. Some were calmer than others. In the one pictured below Daddy was remembering trying to chew as a child without moving his lower jaw. Then everyone was trying it. Give it a go - I don't think it's really possible, but maybe it's because I can't do it!

On the night pictured here we made homemade pizzas and then watched a movie and had ice cream cones. Eleanor noted that the evening felt like she had been at a party! I couldn't agree more. It definitely was a party! So many aspects of our time together feel festive and celebratory! I love that my 96 year old aunt reminds me so well what it means to live fully savoring the beautiful moments gifted to us.

On the eve of Nora's 15th birthday, I'm grateful for all those in my life that remind me that life is full of both struggle and beauty (and to cherish the beauty all around us which makes the struggle easier to hold. Another dear friend of mine (and of Nora's!) shared this song with me today, which I've listened to multiple times this evening (Seasons of Love). I love the image of measuring our lives in love. That's the way I hope to orient more and more with each passing year...