First Day of A New School Year---POTENTIAL!!!!
We start out and slowly come to the end of our life with limitations. We have a lot of needs that cannot be met by ourselves. Babies have many needs--to be fed, changed, loved, and played with. A baby will not grow and thrive if all of these needs are not met. The same goes for the precious elderly members of our family, neighborhood, community. If you do not contribute to the care of one or more of these members, who will. Think about that. It is rare to see a family with more than 3 or 4 children.
I came form a time when 7, 8 or even 12 children in a family was considered normal. The care of the elderly (as well as the infants) in those families was spread out among the 9, 10 or even 14 members of the immediate family. How do we fill the gap left when children live in 2 or 3 different states and mom and dad live in a 4th. I suggest that we celebrate each generation and what that particular generation has to contribute right now, at this time. In doing that--getting members from all 3 (or 4 if you are lucky enough to have 'great-grandma' around) generations. Share a simple meal, but more importantly, share your stories. Both old and new stories have a great potential to raise the spirits of all those diverse attendees.
Earlier this summer, I had an inner-generational Brunch. We eat sweet breads made from old family recipes, I served a rich egg, cheese, and hash brown casserole, we partook in wonderful summer fruits. But the food, decorations, candles, and all those thing one does to make an event special were overshadowed (in a big way) by the conversations that took place.
The spontaneous conversations that accrued were wonderful in nature but I also invited each attendee to finish the following statement: "Because I am in my --20s-40s--or 50s to 60s--70s to 80s or over 80--I know this to be true:
Well, the responses were gathered up anonymously and then passed out again--the idea is that you do not read you own response and you do not know who wrote the statement.
I was so happy with the results of my little experiment. I intend on doing this event many time in the future--sometimes with the same collection of wonderful women that attended my first "inner-generational brunch" and some with different people from my life. The experience was far more inspirational and uplifting than I could have imagined.
I encourage anyone that reads this and thinks it sound like fun to not 'put it off'. Live is short and each thing that we 'put off', is one less experience we will get to have in this wonderful, high potential, world we live in.
I came form a time when 7, 8 or even 12 children in a family was considered normal. The care of the elderly (as well as the infants) in those families was spread out among the 9, 10 or even 14 members of the immediate family. How do we fill the gap left when children live in 2 or 3 different states and mom and dad live in a 4th. I suggest that we celebrate each generation and what that particular generation has to contribute right now, at this time. In doing that--getting members from all 3 (or 4 if you are lucky enough to have 'great-grandma' around) generations. Share a simple meal, but more importantly, share your stories. Both old and new stories have a great potential to raise the spirits of all those diverse attendees.
Earlier this summer, I had an inner-generational Brunch. We eat sweet breads made from old family recipes, I served a rich egg, cheese, and hash brown casserole, we partook in wonderful summer fruits. But the food, decorations, candles, and all those thing one does to make an event special were overshadowed (in a big way) by the conversations that took place.
The spontaneous conversations that accrued were wonderful in nature but I also invited each attendee to finish the following statement: "Because I am in my --20s-40s--or 50s to 60s--70s to 80s or over 80--I know this to be true:
Well, the responses were gathered up anonymously and then passed out again--the idea is that you do not read you own response and you do not know who wrote the statement.
I was so happy with the results of my little experiment. I intend on doing this event many time in the future--sometimes with the same collection of wonderful women that attended my first "inner-generational brunch" and some with different people from my life. The experience was far more inspirational and uplifting than I could have imagined.
I encourage anyone that reads this and thinks it sound like fun to not 'put it off'. Live is short and each thing that we 'put off', is one less experience we will get to have in this wonderful, high potential, world we live in.
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