The Postcard

Personal 3 Minutes

My husband and I had only been dating a couple of weeks when THE POSTCARD came.  I was sitting on the sofa when he brought it in with the mail.  A dark look crossed over his face and I was curious.  “Anything wrong?” I asked.

“It’s the family reunion,” he replied.

“Oh,” I said.  “That’s…nice?”

He sighed loudly and sat beside me. “You wouldn’t want to come, would you?”

I couldn’t read the emotions playing out on his face, so I just smiled.  “Sounds like…fun?”

I was wrong.

His family reunion was held every year, the first weekend in August on a quaint family farm.  We drove past cornfields and silos and a huge red barn.  At the end of the drive was a charming farmhouse.  The entire setting was picturesque and perfect and I was completely puzzled about his initial reaction.

To the right of the farmhouse was a large yard with a huge tent set up, covering several long tables of food.  Guests were seated around the tables, eating and chatting and having what seemed to be a grand time!  As we got out of the truck, we saw that several people were starting to clear their plates and cover the remaining food and my future husband (FH) directed our little group (the two of us and our two children) to chairs that were set up on the opposite side of the driveway.

FH ushered us to the very back row and soon his parents and his brother and his family joined us.  As the rows filled in, an adorable young girl passed out…programs? (huh?) I turned to my FH and started to ask about them, when a little boy carrying the American Flag caught my eye.  He stepped to the front of the gathered family and everyone stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. (Okay…?) 

The boy moved off to the side as an older man came to the front of the group and led the family in the Lord’s Prayer.  As we sat back down, I noticed plates being passed among the rows and I turned to FH.  He whispered, “you’ll see,” as he dropped a $20 in the plate and passed it. 

The same man welcomed everyone to the Family reunion and asked that the Secretary rise and read the minutes of the last reunion. (excuse me?) Yup, a sweet looking, older woman rose and read the minutes, which were then approved and she sat back down.  The speaker asked for the Treasurer to rise and give her report.  Another woman rose, and reported how much money had just been collected.  Then she announced the expenses the reunion had incurred over the year: a tent repair, printing of THE POSTCARDS, prizes and items for the games, and, she said, of course the ice cream!  Excited murmurs went through the crowd and many of the children clapped at the prospect of the ice cream!

But alas, the meeting was not over.  We sat through old business and new business and then came the children’s presentations.  Child after child came to the front of the group and sang songs, recited poems or played instruments.  Finally, the “business” portion of the reunion was over and the older man announced the games were being set up and the ice cream would be served! (The ice cream was hand churned and you had a choice of A scoop of chocolate OR A scoop of cherry vanilla—there were no seconds.) 

But before any of that happened, we were all asked to line up for the group family photo.  Apparently this reunion has reunion scrapbooks dating back to the very first one (don’t ask me what year, by now I was numb and wondering what I was dating into).  We dutifully lined up, adults in the back, children in the front and smiled for the camera.

While we ate our ice cream, FH told us that the games were broken down by age group, starting with the youngest and working their way up.  Since we had some time, we walked around, examining the family tree (written down on a window shade—and tracing the family back to the Mayflower—I kid you not), petting the animals and watching the older man from the meeting (the reunion president?) back a tractor out of the barn.  There was going to be a hayride (not having grown up on a farm, I was NOT looking forward to that—would this day never end?)

On the long ride home, FH was quiet and from the corner of my eye, I could see him stealing glances at me.  Finally he found the courage to ask what I thought…was it just too weird to be a part of?  I laughed, told him it was charming in its ways, and reassured him we would be fine.  After all, I said, you’re coming to my family reunion NEXT month…LOL

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Published by pat frederick

Published

171 thoughts on “The Postcard”

  1. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. the Boss postpones his rally till next Friday

    Citizen817
    July 15, 2022 3:53 pm

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    ·
    2h
    Out of love and respect for Ivana, our big Arizona Rally will be postponed until next Friday.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. CS Lewis shares about “choosing” God…makes me think a bit of Eustace & the dragon skin in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader…

    The odd thing was that before God closed in on me, I was in fact offered what now appears a moment of wholly free choice. In a sense. I was going up Headington Hill on the top of a bus. Without words (I think) almost without images, a fact about myself was somehow presented to me. I became aware that I was holding something at bay, or shutting something out. Or, if you like, that I was wearing some stiff clothing, like corsets, or even a suit of armour, as if I were a lobster. I felt myself being, there and then, given a free choice. I could open the door or keep it shut; I could unbuckle the armour or keep it on. Neither choice was presented as a duty; no threat or promise was attached to either, though I knew that to open the door or to take off the corslet meant the incalculable. The choice appeared to be momentous but it was also strangely unemotional. I was moved by no desires or fears. In a sense I was not moved by anything. I chose to open, unbuckle, to loosen the rein. I say, ‘I chose’, yet it did not really seem possible to do the opposite.

    From Surprised by Joy

    Compiled in Preparing for Easter

    

    Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. Copyright © 1955 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Preparing for Easter: Fifty Devotional Readings from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2017 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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    1. Hi Valerie!
      hope everything is well is you & yours!
      I posted one of the memes you shared at wolf’s–(repubs are jellyfish)…Awesome!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Glad you liked that one!

        We’re hanging in around here. Hubby left his new job after a little more than a week. He got sunstroke on his 3rd day in the field & was quite messed up for the following day & a half. He came to realize that that particular job was Way more labor intensive (& almost entirely outdoors) than he’d hoped for. He really is hoping to get No to Low touch options….

        So he’s back to the job search drawing board 😦 He has an over-the-road job lined up starting right after Josiah’s wedding (less than 2 weeks away now). He’s still looking for something local so he can be home nightly & continue with music ministry.

        Basically lots is still up in the air…sigh…

        Saturday we had Rose’s bridal shower (Josiah’s fiancée) at my oldest son’s mother-in-laws showplace of a home. It was a very lovely event.

        Sunday I went to 2 church services (that’s more church than I do in a month or more!)…9:30am to support hubby in what might be his final music ministry for a while & 10:30am, about 10 miles from there to witness Josiah & Rose get baptized at her church. I’m tired & some modern church trends are painful to witness…sigh again…

        The good thing was my granddaughter was at the bridal shower w/ my daughter-in-law so I got to hold her & give her some kisses while she slept for a few minutes. I’ve still barely seen her eyes as her days & nights remain flipped…

        Well, God’s helping us get through stuff & we’re hanging in there but we are both fatigued & disappointed that what looked like a very promising job fell through. We’d appreciate prayers!

        Thanks for asking…I’ve been too weary with all of it to really give a proper “update” anywhere. Also it’s a bummer to not have a more stable scenario to share.

        Hope things are well with you & your family! Whenever the holiday summer season comes around I usually fall behind on reading online & it seems I miss out on so much. There aren’t enough hours & energy!

        Have a wonderfully blessed day & week! ❤

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I’m so glad you checked in!!
          I will keep y’all in my prayers–for a new job, a lovely wedding for Josiah & Rose, and peace for you and yours!!
          families are usually chaotic in my experience…but things will work out!!!

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          1. Yes! Our upcoming wedding is complicated by multiple special needs & cultural differences. Thankfully we’re all Believers, so we have the Lord in common. Thanks for your prayers ❤ 🙂 ❤

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            1. I’m sure the Lord will be there and the language of the heart will permeate everything!!!
              the hardest thing for me last year when my son married was not crying! as he said his vows, I saw him from a baby to his current age…and realize it went by sooo fast!!
              God Bless you all!!!

              Liked by 1 person

              1. That’s so sweet Pat. Our time with our kids does seem to fly by! We are all so blessed richly by their lives. I still am amazed that God gave Me Four Kids!!! I’m not even a baby person & never dreamed of being a mom like so many girls do. I wear that motherhood hat by God’s grace & strength & realize my kids are probably the most important part of my entire life…leaving behind Fruit that will remain! ❤

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  11. simple but deep…

    On obedience

    In obeying, a rational creature consciously enacts its creaturely role, reverses the act by which we fell, treads Adam’s dance backward and returns.

    From The Problem of Pain
    Compiled in Words to Live By

    The Problem of Pain. Copyright © 1940, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright restored © 1996 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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  12. comfort from CS Lewis on finding life while facing death & disease

    TO MARY VAN DEUSEN: On how one responds to the diagnosis of serious illness and on four strategies for coping.

    10 April 1959

    I have just had Sister Hildegarde’s letter. My heart goes out to you. You are now just where I was a little over two years ago—they wrongly diagnosed Joy’s condition as uremia before they discovered cancer of the bone.

    I know all the different ways in which it gets one: wild hopes, bitter nostalgia for lost happiness, mere physical terror turning one sick, agonised pity and self-pity. In fact, Gethsemane. I had one (paradoxical) support which you lack—that of being in severe pain myself. Apart from that what helped Joy and me through it was 1. That she was always told the whole truth about her own state. There was no miserable pretence. That means that both can face it side-by-side, instead of becoming something like adversaries in a battle-of-wits. 2. Take it day by day and hour by hour (as we took the front line). It is quite astonishing how many happy—even gay—moments we had together when there was no hope. 3. Don’t think of it as something sent by God. Death and disease are the work of the Devil. It is permitted by God: i.e., our General has put you in a fort exposed to enemy fire. 4. Remember other sufferers. It’s fatal to start thinking ‘Why should this happen to us when everyone else is so happy.’ You are (I was and may be again) one of a huge company. Of course we shall pray for you all we know how. God bless you both.

    From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III
    Compiled in Yours, Jack

    The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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