The
power of the possible ~ I amazed myself today and went to Whitney's wedding shower,
all the way out in Paoli! Will wonders
never cease. Such wonders there were.
I
said it before to this circle of friends and say it again - Elsa has an
unwavering belief in the possible. It
does wonders for my recovery. Elsa let
me know that she thought I could make it to the shower, but that the choice was
mine. I was leery, even scared. As always, Elsa presented the possibility as
a series of self-contained, open-ended options.
First
was the decision to go or not. I was so
sure I would not have the energy, but then she asked what I thought Pete would
say. That tore it - I knew I had to give
it a try, at least. If I decided while
dressing it was not a smart move, then that would be the end of it.
It
actually felt good to get dressed and took a lot less time than I thought it
would. It has been weeks and weeks since
I was dressed in day clothes. I looked
pretty good. Instead of tiring me out,
getting dressed seemed to put a little bounce in my step.
We
left, with the understanding that if I felt it was too much, she'd turn around
at once. We drove, as always, through
Bryn Athyn, past flowering magnolias and daffodils, past the Post Office,
across the creek, up and out onto Terwood Road.
Just seeing our hometown gives me a boost. Elsa kept looking over to me, I guess to
check me out, but all I ever gave her was a smile.
Wise
woman - she had brought along some of my favorite tapes to play.
As
we drove along the turnpike, she said she would not be surprised if Mim were
there. That seemed farfetched to me, but
it put the possibility in my mind.
By
the time we exited onto the "Blue Route" I knew that I was going to
make it, even if we only stayed for 15 minutes.
By the time we headed up the hill toward Berwyn, I was getting charged
with excitement.
As
the D'Entremonts' front door swung open, guess who one of the first people we
saw was? Mim! Understand, Mim has not been around since I
was in the hospital with my mini-stroke, back in early October. Joy does not begin to describe my
feelings. It was such a happy moment
realizing that all the USA-based Lockhart women were together for a purely
happy event. It still seems like a
dream.
Elsa,
who was brought up by her sister to cherish anything having to do with family
and who has worked through a lot of sibling issues recently, practically did
cartwheels across the lawn, she was so happy at the completeness of the moment.
Whitney
looked lovelier than ever, definitely radiant.
She fussed over me, her mother fussed over me, her grandmother fussed
over me, my daughters fussed over me, and the hostess was clearly pleased as
punch that both grandmothers and all of Whitney's USA-based aunts were there.
Whitney
was a darling and opened my presents first.
Elsa wrapped my present - a Christmas combination of Mary Engelbreit's
book BELIEVE (inscribed in my own wobbly fist, "When this you see,
remember me."), a small red cardinal ornament (Pete and I considered red
cardinals our good luck sign), and a treasured ornament from our tree to theirs
- in bright-colored Christmas paper. She
polished up the pewter cocktail shaker that had been given in the earlier part
of the century to Pete's aunt and her husband - J. Barton and Fanny Lockhart
King - by some of his cricket chums in appreciation of Fanny & Bart's exceptional hospitality
(and exceptional hootch). I gave it to
Whitney on "behalf of the spirit of Lockhart women past and present for
the spirits of Lockhart women present and future." What a lovely, unexpected (to me) touch to
have Mim there too, another Lockhart woman present.
It
touched me deeply that Whitney wore an engagement present that Elsa & I had
given her on behalf of her great-grandmother, Lillian Lockhart, who died when
Pete was in his teens. It was a drop
necklace - very popular, I understand, these days - of three tiny solitarire
diamonds in fillagree settings. Gar'
Lockhart gave it to her as part of her engagement present. It was given to me
when I married Pete and I gave it, in turn,
to Elsa, and the two of us put it into Whitney's trust. Since Whitney did not have any idea I would
be there, her wearing it moved me deeply.
I
stayed for close to 1 1/2 hours.
Incredible! On the drive home,
Elsa ran into Great Harvest Bread Company and came back with a warm chunk of
Cinnamon Swirl Bread. It tasted so
delicious and helped me regroup my forces.
I enjoyed the sunny ride home but looked forward to a nice long nap.
It
is well over six hours since we opened d'Entremonts' front door and caught
sight of Mim, well over six hours since
I took in the beauty of my grown up granddaughter, now on the verge of being
married to a young man who seems a lovely lad (I certainly consider him a lucky
one). I had to miss all of the fun &
festivities surrounding Scott & Kimberly's Down Under wedding in January,
which makes being able to get to any of Whitney & Chad's special events
doubly precious. I am still walking on
air with happiness and looking forward to next month ~~ to meeting Chad's
family, to the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, the reception, the brunch...
Sorry
about the soppy, sentimental tone of this posting. Cannot be helped.
Love,
love and more love to one & all - Gockers (as Whitney would say)
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