Kindred spirits…

Judy and I are standing in her kitchen preparing fresh fruit I brought with me that will be for a fruit salad. She is slicing red seedless grapes. I have sliced two bananas, and sectioned two tangerines and teased the seeds out them, and have carefully peeled the fuzzy skin from some kiwi fruit, and they have been sliced and added to the bowl. A lovely ripe pear is waiting. A can of pineapple has been opened and added with its juice. When I was buying this fruit, I thought cherries would be a nice, colorful touch, but when the cashier put the small package on the scale and I saw the price was $6.89, I decided we did not need cherries in the salad.

Charlie (Judy’s husband), his sister (yes Dot, you have ended up on the blog), their mother, and his niece Karen, are all working on a hard jigsaw puzzle of a very fancy snowman that has been laid on a large piece of green felt. 

Earlier, I was trying to help them with it, but not succeeding very well. I am somewhat spatially challenged. Even so, I  can see that laying out this jigsaw puzzle and getting people involved in it is an excellent way for people who do not know each other to become better acquainted. 

Dot is waiting for us to finish because she needs to put together a Waldorf salad and fix broccoli.

My husband and the other two husbands, Jimmie (who belongs to Dot) and Rick (who belongs to Karen), have moved into the living room and are occupied with a new Kindle Fire that was Rick was given for a present. Richard has hollered at me a couple of times for the names of the reference books I use for editing. I can imagine wheels turning: he will be wanting to buy one of these and load it with the dictionaries and the style guides I routinely use.

As Judy and I work a way chatting about this and that, I hear my husband’s voice and his laughter coming from the living room. My heart lifts. It can be a bit frightening to walk into a room of strangers who all know each other, and I know Richard was nervous about how this was going to turn out. My husband is a rather shy guy. It appears that they have hit it off and that they have things in common to talk about, and that he has found kindred spirits in these two very nice men. He tells me later he really enjoyed talking with Rick, and that Jimmie was very witty and funny.

I was worried about Christmas, worried that negotiating this holiday that is loaded with memories and stress was going to be akin to dancing in a minefield. Judy and Charlie and his family were there to hold our hands and it became a stroll in the park. We are so blessed.