Friday Tidings

Have you ever met a special person who can make a room brighter and make your mood lighter? This describes Sara. Her high voltage smile creates its own energy, and her enthusiasm is contagious. She loves people and her biggest thrill is helping folks discover new places to visit and experience unforgettable activities, sights, and delicious foods.   Sara is one of America’s 33 million small business owners. And with her worldwide travels, she brings a bounty of knowledge to her highly curated Leger Experiences.   For two summers now, I’ve had the chance to peek behind the curtain of Sara’s Feast by Fire event. She chose a stunning location along the Pacific coast and hosted about thirty guests to a four-course meal prepared by an engaging chef who used locally sourced food—featuring elk, oysters, and geoduck—expertly prepared over an outdoor grill.   For those making the Feast by Fire an overnight experience, the evening entertainment was provided by the vast starry ...

Fixing large meals was routine for Alice. But making a holiday meal took more planning on her meager budget. Her boarding house included her five children and six boarders. She managed to feed, clothe, and house everyone with the monthly allotment from the rent she received.     However, extra food for celebrations required scrupulous saving. Alice used her treadle sewing machine to make clothes for well-to-do ladies. Her reputation for creating unique and flattering dresses gave her a side income that provided the extras she felt her children deserved every so often.    But the rich patrons were not always the kindest, and their demands had to be exceeded for Alice to receive her full payment. Yards of satin and taffeta hung in her tiny sewing alcove. The steady rhythm of the machine could be heard in the early morning hours. She was creating two gowns for the upcoming holiday season and had already made tedious alterations to both of them.   Alice carefully re...

Two stories, separated by sixty years.     2023: Granddaughter After School   I pulled out schoolwork the kindergarten teacher had put in my granddaughter’s backpack. I noticed a paper with a large star. Printed inside the star were three blank lines:                                Name of Veteran                                Branch of Service                                  Peacetime or Wartime    My granddaughter explained they were learning about Veterans Day. Students would bring back their star filled out with the name of a veteran, and they’d be placed on the Wall of Honor.   “I don’t have a veteran!” my granddaughter lamented.   “Oh, yes you do.” So, I told her about a special fami...

I was cleaning out my desk, when I came across a blurry photo taken on a Hawaiian beach. My husband and I had been on a vacation we couldn’t afford. But my grandparents paid the way. They lived in Hawaii, and we’d never been there. We stayed with them, and they toured us to all the sites.  But one afternoon, they let us borrow their car. We found a secluded beach, frolicked in the ocean, and laughed like we hadn’t in a long while. Tom propped our camera on a beach towel, set the timer, so we could take a blurry picture of ourselves.  We were young, with lots of answers to fill in on life’s test questions. We had so many struggles waiting for us back home. Everything was tough, except for our love for one another. But for that one afternoon, we could pretend all was well. I put all the photos from our trip in a special album, except that one beach picture. I hoped we could have that again. Every so often, I’d pull out that picture and see our young faces, full of joy a...