Nostalgia

Immersed in the world of the Bronte family as I am now, I find myself waxing nostalgic for the future. (I know, I know, is that even possible? But it was the best description I could think of.) I get these little glimpses of moments I hope to create in the future. Here, recorded for posterity, are a few of them. Forgive me if they all seem right out of "Little Women." I've always been a little old-fashioned that way.

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Owing a dept of gratitude to the cable companies who decided I wouldn't be able to get free television anymore, I see myself and my family lounging in the family room in the evening. Someone is reading. Someone is doing the dishes (not me!) Someone is talking over a homework question. In fact, everyone is just doing their own thing, while I do my own thing, which is sitting in my armchair with a leg thrown over the side, strumming away on my guitar. I'm not performing or entertaining, just in my own little world, providing a little background music for my family.

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The family sitting around playing a game, or reading a book aloud. Growing up we played tons of games. That is a staple of childhood for me, and continues now into adulthood also. But reading aloud as a family isn't something we ever did. I've heard a few of my friends talk about how they do this, and I fell in love with the idea. Instead of sitting and watching a movie together, we sit and read a book together. We pass the book around, each reading a page or two at a time. Or maybe I read a whole chapter at once while the boys stretch their bodies out on the couch or the floor. I hope this will be a natural extension of us reading so many children's books to the boys now.

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Lying out on our backyard swing with one of the boys. Just the two of us, swinging lazily in the afternoon summer sun. The back of our swing collapses so that two people can actually lie side by side on it. A couple weeks back I heard a friend speak about how his mother used to swing on the backyard swingset with him when he was a boy and they would talk about the future, his serving a mission, his testimony of Jesus Christ. The image it stirred in my mind was so powerful that I hope to have moments just like this with my boys down the road.

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A New Years Eve music party. About 6 years ago James and I were invited to one such party by some friends of ours. They actually have children our age, but our mutual love of music had bridged the generation gap between us and created a good friendship. This husband and wife actually own a music studio and store in Toronto, and they and their five children are all very musically talented. And so each year they hosted a New Years Eve party. The first portion was a sit down dinner in which we were all served a three course meal (they even hired servers!). After the meal we all retired to their music room, complete with a baby grand piano. Each guest had been asked to prepare some sort of musical presentation of a Christmas song. There were solos and duets, vocals, piano, cello, flute, trumpet, violin. We sang as a group and we enjoyed the solos. This was by far my favourite part of the night. After the music was finished there were one or two group games while we counted down to midnight. I hope one day down the road, when the kids are a little older, to host something like this.