Thursday and Friday

My brother and sister in law from Wisconsin are coming today to visit. My younger brother and wife will join us at Dad and Mary's for dinner tonight. The eighty plus year year olds are he host and hostess. To typical. Mary is a hostess innately. What a woman. We will have the fruits of their garden, Im sure. What a man. That grandpa is quite the gardener.

Fast forward to Friday evening. A delicious meal we had last night. The socializing was most enjoyable as we shared many memories of growing up years. I recalled Dad buying a milk cow and raising chickens for eggs after he returned from the war. I can still picture him on a one leg stool filling a stainless steel bucket with warm fresh milk straight from Bossy. I was the only kid then so the only one with that memory. I also singlely remember the two sheep Dad bought to "mow" the lawn. Only problem was that they were tethered to a tree and one of them choked himself on the rope and died. So Sad.

I have a birthday this weekend so Mary outdid herself by designing a five layer cake filled with various fillings. When I got home I opened the card from Dad and Mary. I nearly cried when I read that Dad had listed seven memories of when it was just Dad, Mom, and me. One of the things that touched my heart was that he wrote how hard it was to be seperated from me during WW2. I was a newborn and he returned when I was three. He wrote how thrilled he was to see me with Mom when he returned. He had never mentioned that to me before and it moved me deeply. His list of memories about only me poured healing oil over my heart. Parents were not all that expressive in those days and to hear the deep feelings of his heart was so wonderful.

Today, my brother and wife stopped to say goodbye. I suggested we go to the Dairy Adventure for some icecream. We climbed in the car and were soon sucking on our ice cream. While they had been to the tour before, they hadn't had the ice cream so it was a special treat. After we got home they left for their home in Randolph Wisconsin. Short but sweet visit.