JaiKaur: Women's Grace, Grit & Gratitude

This week, my 6 siblings and I, living literally coast to coast, are gathering in the middle to celebrate our parent’s 56 years of marriage as well as my father’s life of 80% of a century, as my youngest daughter loves to tell him.  Preparations for this occasion began last winter in the hope we could gather the 3 generations, no small goal in today’s busy busy lives. With the aid of computers, google calendar, conference lines, and a bit of compromising summer schedules, every single member of our family will be together, the ultimate gift for a man whose definition of family often was “all together”.

In the process of coming to agreements for the weekend celebration-the location, the activities, the menus-even when we would have the conference call for these discussions!-ghosts of childhood past mixed with the differences in lives chosen as adults.  We not only learned (more…)

A plan to visit a friend in Vermont for the 4th of July weekend fell through and my daughter and I were faced with recreating plans.  My daughter of 12 years wanted to go to real fireworks and I wanted to go to the ocean, not having been for months to my favorite of all the earth’s elements.  We had tickets to whale watching based in Provincetown and a couple of days free from any obligation of merit.  A quick call to find out if the dog sitter was available-yes!-and we had a spontaneous recipe for a 4th of July holiday celebration!

We made preparations and went to bed early  figuring that taking off by 6 am would ensure a place to park in Provincetown. Of course, (more…)