Well if that title doesn't put a big question mark in your brain probably nothing will.
It's may sound like a pretty random title for a journal but after you read this you won't be thinking that anymore.
Last week we made the dreadful trip to our home in Marathon. We have been in The Villages for a while visiting with Jessi's Poppa who had open heart surgery in the beginning of January. We where with him last week and since he is doing pretty good we decided to make a trip to Marathon to Face that Giant that was waiting for us. There is not alot of Jessi's things left in the house as over the years she has brought things to Georgia each trip we made. However, it is still hard. Jessi was born there and spent a big part of her life there as well as making several trips a year back to visit. Our last stay as a family was Christmas 2009 when she brought Hannah. We didn't know it would be the last together in the house. I was dreading the arrival the whole drive down. As we pulled into the driveway, I was overwhelmed with just such immense sadness. I got Jessi's dogs out of the car and went for a walk before even going into the house. But, when I got back to the house, the house was still there, and Jessi was still not here. I walked up and went straight to her room climbed in her bed, grabbed her pillow and cryed.......make that weeped......it was a good hard cry.....did it make me feel better? Maybe a little, but it still as of yet hasn't changed anything.........
On Sunday Lisa did my hair for me, she made me feel great on the outside....I wish there was a salon for grief and heartache......I really enjoyed spending that time with her. It was just the two of us and we havent talked at all since October.....I don't do much talking on the phone....
I had lunch with Carm on Tuesday and that was a treat also.....It's really hard for me at times to be with my friends, I know that sounds odd, but I know that they grieve for me also and everyone wants to make things better but they can't. Sometimes the ones your closest to are the hardest to be with. Simply because they feel your pain but are helpless.
So what does all this have to do with Ping Pong? Nothing.....But what you are about to read will explain that question.
Bud's cousin Frieda and her husband Lynn and there 2 kids Kaite and Seth also live in Marathon and where with us during Jessi's last day...We went to their house to have dinner on Monday nite and when we walked in their house where you would normally see a dining room table there sat a Ping Pong table.......Most of us (including myself at one time) would never put a ping pong table directly adjacent to your kitchen. Well, that is the wrong way of thinking.......Most peple have heard the saying "The family that prayes together stays together" That I believe is absolutely true but I also believe that " The family that plays together stays together" too. If that ping pong table was outside it probly wouldnt get used as much..Seeing as how its inside and you have to walk passed it to go outside, to the kitchen or to the bathhroom its kinda hard to avoid it. I confess that I didn't play this time. Bud did and as I watched him he actually smiled and laughed for a few minutes.....I'm not sure of the last time I can remember him doing that since June....
Who would of thought that a Ping Pong table in the middle of a kitchen would have been a blessing to someone and would also be a way for a family to spend great quality time together.
I guess the lesson would be is you don't have to have a fancy dining room table, a chandelier, matching placesettings and all the trimmings. Sometimes doing things right won't make you any happier. Your dining room table may look all pretty and put together but that's about it.
But.......a Ping Pong Table and your family can be better than any dining room table. And if you still want to sit at a table and eat, back when I was a kid they had these things called TV Dinner trays.....get u one of those and sit on the couch and eat.......
Your children will remember the Ping Pong table years from now..............
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to Play. 1 Corinthians 10:7
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