Post #174 – Women’s Memoirs, ScrapMoir – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
All Things Labor — Memoir Contest – Honorable Mention Story, Labor Day Category
Women’s Memoirs is pleased to publish an Honorable Mention winner in our September 2011 Memoir Writing Contest, Labor Day Category — Nancy Julien Kopp.
Congratulations Nancy on your award-winning story. You remind all of us to cherish times with family — an important life lesson.
We invite you to leave Nancy a note in the Comments section below her story.
Memoirs and Memoirs of Family Gatherings—A Labor Of Love
By Nancy Julien Kopp
Labor Day weekend marks the last of summer for most Americans, including my own family. But in a recent September, it also marked the beginning of our Kansas State University football season and a three day visit with our children and grandchildren.
“Mom, we’re coming to Manhattan on Labor Day weekend,” my son, Kirk, said one night on the phone. “I want to take the family to the first K-State game. Call Karen and ask if they can come, too.” And so it happened that our family was once again allotted precious time together.
We’d all attended a wedding in Las Vegas in late June. Very little gambling occurred. Instead, we spent time with my three brothers, their families and our family. Beats the slots anytime. We watched our niece get married in a beautiful chapel in the elegant Paris Hotel. What better place for a high school French teacher to say her “I do?”
I find every family gathering more important with each passing year. The gray in my hair and the creak in my bones reminds me that time for such things grows short.
These family get-togethers take a toll on me lately, at least when they happen at my house. It means days of cooking before they arrive and more cooking while they’re with us. It means setting up air mattresses and making sure guest rooms are ready, that bathrooms all have the right amount of shampoo, soap and toilet paper. It means hauling in a truckload of groceries including adult beverages and lots more milk than my refrigerator normally sees. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Friday night all ten of us, plus our two granddogs nearby, gathered around the table for dinner, chatter and laughter. We started many a sentence with “Do you remember when…?” The grandchildren listened with wide eyes and open mouths. They loved hearing the escapades of their parents in years past.
Saturday afternoon, we donned our purple and drove to the football stadium to tailgate, and then six stayed for the game. The tailgate atmosphere only enhanced the pleasure we had in all being together. Karen and I brought the two youngest grandchildren home and listened to the game on the radio. When the rest got home, we celebrated a big win over North Texas State.
Sunday, our son-in-law’s parents drove ninety miles to join us. The men played golf, the women and children checked out the mall, and we gathered later around our dining room table for dinner and to celebrate two birthdays. The birthday boys were the youngest and the oldest of the family. Between the two, they blew out all the candles on the chocolate cake.
Monday morning, each family packed up, had a final breakfast, and hugged us good-bye before they headed home. One family lives seven and a half hours south in Dallas and the other 2 hours east in Kansas City. The house felt sad with the sudden silence– no more children’s giggles, no more dogs barking, no more chatter flying back and forth among the adults. Just we two senior citizens left to pick up and put away the toys until next time, wash all the sheets and towels, and sweep the kitchen floor.
Late in the morning, I sat down with a second cup of coffee and reflected on the preceding happy days we’d spent with our family. I felt tired but totally at peace and filled with contentment. In less than four months they’d all be here again to celebrate Christmas. I sat up straight in my chair. It was time to start thinking about December menus and all the other parts of a Christmas visit. I can hardly wait!
Nancy Julien Kopp grew up in Chicago but now lives in Kansas. She began writing late in life, but has been published in eleven Chicken Soup books, other anthologies, ezines, newspapers and magazines. Once a classroom teacher, she now teaches through the written word. Visit her blog at www.writergrannysworld.blogpsot.com
