MEEKER I As parents and grandparents, it falls to us to be caretakers of the next generations. Once you are a mom, you are always a mom, ditto grandma.
When our kids visit us, we cook, fuss, and try to make their lives easy. Following the example of my mother who always cooked all the food when we visited, even when we were old enough to prepare meals ourselves, we relished being cared for once again.
I try to pay it forward and have always attempted to pass on that sense of history and serenity to my children so they can relax in our home.
Fast forward to recent times. My children have matured and now they want to cook for us. Awesome.
Our oldest son has embraced being an amateur chef, focused on healthy food, and researched unique dishes. These days, he visits with a bag of food and offer to cook! Now, that’s a treat.
On our Oregon trip, our daughter-in-law served us all with healthy meals prepared on a two burner Coleman camp stove. Her dedication to wholesome food and doing all the labor herself was an incredibly special gift to us.
For 5-year-old grandson, Grayson, the best food item was the s’mores with marshmallows roasted over a real wood fire. Thankfully, fire and weather conditions allowed a small campfire, and our son is a certified firefighter who was quite vigilant.
S’mores are a family tradition. Just graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows roasted over an open fire. The trick is to keep your marshmallow from burning, or worse, catching on fire.
If you’re patient and slowly turn your skewer, the marshmallow will slowly warm and roast to a crusty, evenly cooked result. Even if you burn it, you still squash the marshmallow on a graham cracker and call it good.
As the smoke waifs through your face, you give thanks that you and the next generations can enjoy the same things. And now they are watching over us. We are grateful for the love that surrounds us.
As well, I sincerely appreciate an invitation to visit a college friend’s daughter who lives along our route home from Oregon. I haven’t seen her in person since she was about 8-years-old, but she graciously offered space to park our trailer and gifted us with fresh seafood. Her partner is a professional fisher and captain of fishing expeditions.
Her Mom and I have always stayed in close touch, so I follow her kids’ lives as she follows mine. The daughter even sounds like her mom so connecting is an intergenerational gift all around.
The next generation is watching out for us and I am incredibly grateful. We are quite self-sufficient but leisurely enjoying the caretaking from our children is heavenly.
By KAYE SULLIVAN – Special to the Herald Times
