Priorities – or ‘When Life Takes Over’!

Whew! A busy three weeks full of lovely visitors, people staying, and much cooking. All things that I truly love. But there is only so much of me to go around and some things have to drop to the wayside, (like computer time!).

The Grannies

Over the last three weeks I have baked: a fruit cake; a banana cake – served warm with running chocolate icing on a random collection of pretty, vintage cake plates; a chocolate slice; sparkly sugared ginger biscuits; a mass of chocolate chippies; and a batch of slightly interesting apple muffins. These have all been consumed with great enthusiasm and I have enjoyed that immensely!   It is also more baking than I usually do in 6 months, and now I need to eat salads for a few weeks to return to my former, not exactly svelte, self – ‘never trust a skinny cook’, right?

I have had extra visitors for meals as well, cooked delicious leftovers up, and created some scrummy impromptu meals in between whiles. My kitchen has returned to its former centre of the household that it held when our own family were all growing up. What a pleasure.

Me and Mine

All this gorgeousness has been brought about by the arrival of our first grandchild, and his first journey from his home town to ours. He is so loved already. Both sets of grandparents and his great-grandparents live here in Christchurch too, so much cooing, and examining of fingers and profiles looking for family likenesses, and wondering about what his future holds. In this world of scattered families and uncertain seismic conditions, this new soul has arrived into the wide embrace of his delighted family. It is so good to have something wonderful that rises above all the effort of dealing with the changes here in Christchurch, to focus on.

The NZ Great- Grandparents

That is what happens when your world is rocked by uncontrollable change, the things that once seemed important fall away, and we are stripped back to what really matters. Family, people, the ability to share laughter, what resources and talents we still have. The future that opens up before us as a new life arrives and we know they will live to see things long after our own time here is over. Our priorities change, and a whole lot of stuff  fades from our attention, giving a different perspective on life and what we want to spend time and energy on for the moment.

Wonderful.