There's Always a Solution!

These days I am reliving a wonderful cottage holiday I enjoyed with my children and grandchildren and reminding myself that there's usually a solution to my problems. 

Two years ago, our holiday at this same cottage was cut short when we discovered Covid among our ranks. We had to say goodbye to our Ontario family after two days!  Last year Hardy and I could not be there because of his illness. It was a sad time for us. This time we would all enjoy it, kind of like a bittersweet chocolate bar!

We went tubing, and we went on a boat ride at sunset. We spotted six bald eagles with our binoculars!

The sons-in-law did a lot of the cooking and everyone helped with clean up. Two of the granddaughters helped me fry Rollkuchen (delicious deep fried fritters  that are eaten with watermelon in summer and with Borscht (cabbage soup) in winter. My mother made them without using a recipe. She told me the recipe in The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes was good but to use whipping cream instead of milk. I mixed the batter ahead of time at home and kept it chilled for easier rolling and handling. 

After all that hard work a granddaughter did our  nails as we relaxed on the dock. I thought the color she chose was quite beautiful!

Of course we all missed Hardy and there were moments of sadness but also evidence that he was still with us. On the bookshelf someone found a thank you card he had written . Usually I'm the card writer! It's not like him to leave something undated but there was no date on the card.  We took it as a greeting from him!

 

There was also a puzzle for us to do on which he had written that there were no missing pieces and we should enjoy it!

Our family had discussed scattering Hardy's ashes over the water while we were at the cottage. I chose a reading from Henri Nouwen :

Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving...the pain of the leaving can tear us apart. Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking

The children  each read part of Psalm 90, a psalm Hardy and I read together when he was ill.

The grandchildren read lines from  John Donohue's poem On the Death of the Beloved.

I didn't want this to end in sadness however, and came up with what I thought was a good solution. Hardy had bought extra soap bubble liquid and stashed it under the deck for the next time we went to the cottage. I found it while doing some cleanup and thought this would be a great way to end the ceremony. I carefully put the soap bubble solution in the garage so I wouldn't forget to take it along. Much to my regret, I did forget it! 

However, there was a Dollar store in the nearby town and someone purchased soap bubbles with a label stating there was a wand inside the bottle for blowing bubbles. When I opened the bottle there was no wand! It seemed like this was not going to happen! 

Son-in-law Chris, gifted problem solver, came up with a brilliant solution! He came running up to the dock with the kitchen gadget below, used for flipping pancakes etc.  Plus it blew not just one bubble, but a whole bunch at a time, bigger than the regular wand! 

The ceremony ended in joy and laughter, the way  I had envisioned it!

When morning comes, let your love satisfy all our needs. Then we can celebrate and be glad for what time we have left. Psalm 90:14