This has got to be one of the most memorable days in many years. We are back in Texas for Randy’s mom’s funeral and to celebrate her life. We will be having lots of dinners with family and close friends. Hence the grocery store stop this morning. I dropped off my daughter at work to keep her car to do some grocery shopping, not realizing at the time that this day would be such a most memorabie day. Knowing that tomorrow would have me running back and forth to the airport 3 different times to pick up family, I thought I would go ahead and do the shopping for food today to get a jump start. As I walked in to the WallMart store, which in itself, took my breath away, that there was one within a mile of my daughters house….(let me just pause for a minute and reflect on that, one mile away, that is just so beautiful), I headed straight to the frozen food section, just to hold a bag of frozen Sister Schubert rolls in my hands before tackling the shopping lists. There, in the frozen bread section, my eyes fell on shelves of Sausage rolls, cinnamon rolls, yeast dinner rolls, whole wheat or white, it was just such a Hallmark moment. I had to pull out my phone and take a picture of all the rolls that were sitting there just waiting for me. After I took that in, I headed straight for the frozen veggie isle, and there they were, the cutest little sacks of frozen breaded okra, just looking so sourthern….I quickly opened the door to the veggies and just couldn’t decide how many to take, but then I realized that maybe I should leave them right there until I was through with the lists, that way, they would still be frozen for the trip home to fix for dinner tonight. I want to be sure that they are at their peak when I take them out of the package and lower each little pod into the hot frying pan. As I slowly make my way up and down the grocery isles, I remember where I am, I am in Dr. Pepper Land, oh my gosh, what was I waiting for……I pushed the little grocery cart as fast as I could, closer, closer…..there they were….life’s little treasure..Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Peppers….i bought all they had….it was at this moment that in the midst of what the next couple of days will hold, which will be sadness at saying goodbye to Hazel, but knowing that she and Howard are finally together again, in the presence of our Lord, we would be together as a family, joined by memories of the years that we had with Hazel, lots of memories shared with her around the table, talking and enjoying holidays and hearing her tell us that “oh my, this is just too much food” that we will once again be reminded that it is the little things in our lives that we remember most, the Diet Dr Peppers, the fried okra with chicken and dumplins, the banana pudding that she loved to make, these are a few of the things that will be a treasure in our hearts about her as we sit around the table this weekend and enjoy, once again, the best of all times, being with family.

Wow,what a glorious day, it rained all day with temps in the 50’s. Energized me to clean out closets to make room for fall/winter clothes. Moving furniture the night before and now getting to wear jeans with sweater and jacket made for a most wonderful day. Randy even called to say the weather had got him in the mood for enchiladas so off we went tonight for Mexican food. A friend and I went for lunch today and ended up sitting there all afternoon. As the rain continued to fall, we would go get another bowl of soup and just continue our talking. This was the first “feel” of fall since moving to California. I was beginning to wonder if there would be days when there would be no sun, just clouds and rain and cool temperatures that would propel me to just bake all day. Today was the first of many “fall” days, I am hoping, to arrive all this month. The pantry is stocked with cream cheese, butter, bags of powdered sugar, plenty of cinnamon, chopped dates, pecans and enormous size bags of chocolate chips. Tonight I will go to sleep with thoughts of waking up, looking through recipes to choose which ones will start off my “fall food freenzie”. Something tells me that one of the first things in the oven will be blueberry apple cinnamon rolls! Sister Schubert, move over, Sister Trudy is in the kitchen.

This has just been a very blessed day. We began our day with church, which just was such a wonderful way to celerate this glorious day. In spite of several decisions which we will be having to make regarding my parents, it was a grand reminder of how faithful God is to our burdens and meets us at our point of need. This beautiful Fall day is full of just little reminders of how we can find joy in the midst of pain, because of our Lord and Savior. We are having a new couple over tonight for dinner. They moved here from Colorado, but were in Ft. Worth several years before that and have family in Plano, where we moved from in January. They live 5 blocks down from us and her husbands name is Randy. So we already have so much in common it will be interesting to see how much more we have to talk about.
We decided to keep it simple tonight. Thus, homemade vegetable soup is in the oven and fresh bread will be awaiting them. Mushroom Tarts to much on and finish with homemade chocolate pudding with whipped cream.
It is so nice to know that you don’t have to have a gourmet meal spread out over the table to have friends over. A simple meal is fine, when you realize that it is not the meal they are coming for. It is the excitement of gathering around the table with new friends and talking about your lives and families that were both left behind when our husbands jobs brought us to California.

It is so thrilling to realize that no matter the part of the country, the table seems to be he gathering place. When you are around the table, boundaries are removed as each person shares stories about their past and hopes for the future. This will be a great evening. Breaking bread with new friends and ending the evening knowing that 5 blocks down, we have some new friends who will answer when we yelll “git on over here and let’s have some grits and greens, we’re “fix-in to put them on the table.” Ah……that will be music to our ears when they respond, “ya’ll ready for us to come on down?” We most certainly are!