442) In Which We Celebrate 5 Years with Relatives from Michigan

March 10, 2014 

Monday

Yesterday we had our little family birthday celebration for Mordechai the Miracle Kidney... 5 years old!  Yes, it was 5 years ago yesterday that I got my kidney transplant and for the first time we almost forgot the date.  We were sitting around on Saturday and at some point Liz remarked that this is close to the anniversary... and we hemmed and hawed around til I looked up the date on this blog.  Luckily, we hadn't missed it so we rushed around and added a little celebration to our already planned Sunday.

On Sunday we were already planning for entertaining my cousin Susan and her husband George from Michigan.  I hadn't seen Susan since I took Liz & Shayna to Michigan for my Aunt Marilyn's funeral back in 2008.  This is Susan's first trip to Texas so we had them up from San Antonio for the day; took them to see the capitol; and fed them green chile stew.  I am aware as I write this that at each anniversary we have had different groups of close friends over, and it felt just right to do this one with my closest relatives outside my immediate family.  

Susan and I spent a good piece of time hanging on the rail of the second floor of the capitol reminiscing about our early years at the Christi Lake cottage, all the changes and passings on of our moms, and her brother, and how important it is to keep that sense of "family" as we age ourselves.  Lots of memories shared later at the dinner table, along with the special perspective of George, who was older than Suz and I during those formative years, and brought his own perspective to memories of those times.

This was a perfect way for me to remember how fortunate we are to have family connection and to share gratitude for continuing to be on the planet.  I am curiously looking forward to whatever special kind of celebration happens a year from now on this auspicious date.