Thankful for Eagle Creek

I am so thankful for the house on Eagle Creek Road and for the couple that lives there.

This year Taido and I have had many discussions about buying a bigger house.  We have even tried raising our house payment on our current house to see if we can afford a bigger house.  We can’t.

My grandmother built a house a long time ago that has a big open kitchen that spills into a great room (it’s not a living room or a den…more a combination of the two) in which you could have just about any kind of party.  My parents bought her house when she downsized to an apartment, and since then we have been giving that great room a workout.  Meetings, showers, family gatherings and parties of all shapes and sizes have been pouring in and out of that house since 1980.  We gather there every Sunday afternoon, eating Mother’s cooking and piling on the couches (and the trampoline out back).  I was reminded once again last night that as long as Mother and Daddy have their door unlocked, I can rest easy in my 1600 square feet.

They let me invade with my crew for a great pie bake, which included but was not limited to, about 17 children.  Stretching the countertops to their fullest potential we peeled apples, worked two pastry blenders, debated between butter and crisco, and baked enough gorgeous thanksgiving pies to spread homemade crust love to many a household.  There was flour covering the door handle of the refrigerator, toys and legos in the crevices of the couch, a fire in the pit out back, and kids running around with coat hangers and marshmallows.

When one of my mother’s friends heard what I was doing over there, she said, Now, Julie, I think she’s a real darling gal, but she has just gone too far.

Maybe so, but they keep letting me come back.  One of the many ways my parents have always loved me is to love those who come along with me, opening their doors to whomever I say needs to be let in.

I’m so thankful for them this week.