When the Maxwell-Smith clan gathers, there’s bound to be fun. As older daughter Mosa once said: Ours is the family that puts FUN in FUNeral. While no one we know died recently, the five of us had a fun and marvelous weekend together.
Younger daughter Megan arrived from San Luis Obispo area Friday evening. She, her dad and I talked until midnight. Among other topics discussed was her newly published book: Could You Live Underwater? Co-authored with Jade Rivera. We’re so excited for their completion of this curriculum book! Published by Prufrock Press, it is for teachers to help students cultivate design thinking which is a problem-solving, experience- based way of approaching science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Megan honored us with an inscribed copy in appreciation of our life-long encouragement of her writing skills. She writes invitingly, with wit, humor and correct grammar, even! Ain’t that a hoot!? We all went to bed happy, two of us popping our pajama buttons with pride.
Saturday morning’s skies opened to pour down heavy rain which threatened to continue dampening our parade for the entire day, but we discovered as we drove that there are many micro climes in Oakland. By the time we arrived at our granddaughter’s school, it was sunny and dry. Yay!
Food, fun, fotos, and fabulous buying opportunities abounded. Grandparents are designed to drop bundles of cash at these events. We lived up to the design expectation. Bath Balls, Beads, Books and Candles now grace our home, along with teeny tiny photo booth pages that, with a magnifying glass, will remind us for years to come that we were somewhere… together… and who’s in those photos with us?
While Mosa went elsewhere Saturday afternoon, the Grandie, her auntie, and we grand-parental units came back to our house to play some more. After our granddaughter’s father picked her up, Megan, Mark and I stoked up a fire and did parallel play with books and correspondence, and/or napped until dinner time. I enjoy cooking, which is a good thing, considering how many meals I make in a week. We had more wonderful talks over salmon, salad, veggies, baked potatoes, and wine
Megan picked a perfect film for the three of us to watch after supper: Gifted starring Chris Evans, McKenna Grace, an amazing actress who is seven-years-old, and Octavia Spencer of Hidden Figures fame. Like Hidden Figures, this film, too, celebrates the extreme gift of mathematical genius. Heart-warming.
Brunch on Sunday included more play and conspiratorial conversations between the Grandie and her adults about how to celebrate Megan before she had to drive home. We ended with storytelling; each one of us adding a sentence or two in round-robin fashion. Unicorns, Narwals, hornless horses and friendships were the featured elements of the story.
Don’t like good-byes, but come they do, and go do the kids.
Mondays may feel blue, but are filled with memories of a happy weekend behind us.
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