Commonplace and Average

Last night was a rarity in our home--and yet? It used to be commonplace. But oh how I treasure these times when it is just the five of us circled around our table eataing a meal. I made typical Friday night fare: soup and cornbread. I must say, I make a divine cornbread that is a recipe I've had for well over twenty years, passed down from a friend of my sister's named Debbie Fisher.

When we lived in California, we used to love Marie Calendar's--a homestyle restaurant that made classic comfort food. One of their selling points was their cornbread. It was thick and sweet and moist--cakelike, I suppose, though it paired perfectly with savory dishes. And a beautiful thing was that they sold that cornbread mix in nearby stores and it tasted exactly like the real deal. When we decided to move, I bemoaned to my sister that we could no longer get Marie Calendar's cornbread and she saved the day: her friend Debbie made a copycat recipe that was pretty darned close to the real thing! And I have made that recipe ever since. It's delicious.

And so last night we all feasted on homemade tortilla soup and cornbread topped with butter and honey. And we laughed and fought for attention to talk as everyone seems to hog the limelight and we all acted as though this was the normal Friday night activity--when the truth of it is, I can't remember the last time it happened.

I love those moments.

Afterwards, we all did our own thing--converged together here or there but in general, independent. And by 9:30, Roy and I were in bed for the night as we've become classic early-to-bedders these days. Kind of boring, I suppose, but my preference is early morning hours when the house is quiet and it's still a bit dark outside and the "fire" hums in the stove. I eagerly await morning time when I can get up at the crack of dawn, just me and a steaming cup of chai beside me and my iPad which hosts an abundance of opportunity.

Recently I read the book Unbroken. It is an incredible story about a man named Louie Zamparini who endured over 40 days on a raft lost at sea and then was captured by the Japanese and spent over two years in a POW camp, enduring starvation and torture. The story is spellbinding and a testament to the power of the human spirit. It has affected me deeply as I just can't seem to start another book now that I'm finished as I know it won't compare. The movie Unbroken was released on Christmas Day. Roy and I took the girls to it the other day and, though it doesn't compare to the book, it is a beautiful testimony to this man's courage and determination and strength. And so, yesterday I looked up interviews with Angelina Jole, who directed the movie, and Louie Zamparini who just died in 2014 at the age of 97. I cried through every interview as their relationship is so touching. Louie had a profound effect on the life of Angelina (we're all on a first name basis) and watching them together is powerful.

Anyway, because I was on Youtube, one thing led to another, and eventually I wound up watching an interview with Jennifer Aniston where she was talking about her marriage to Brad Pitt a few months after their separation. She laughed as she discussed how the tabloids ranted about their lives of glory--driving his and her cars and jetting off to Europe and dining on specialty fare on a daily basis.  She said that when she read those things, she couldn't help but feel like she was reading about someone else's life as it certainly wasn't hers. And then she talked about how she and Brad (again, first name basis) would come home from work and eat take-out or cook a regular dinner together and sit down in front of the television and hang for the evening. Their life together, she insisted, was normal, average. Nothing extraordinary, though, of course, celebrity life has its perks.

And then the interviewer asked her what she was learning to like about her new life without Brad. With a grin, she said, "A comfortable couch." (She and Brad had very different styles and he preferred angles and lines to comfort when it came to furniture.)

That hung with me all day yesterday. Regardless of one's status or wealth, it is the small things that create a life. It is the getting up every day and routine and meals gathered around the table and laughter with loved ones and friends and good books and deep conversations and roaring fires that bring meaning to our days. And once in awhile we get to throw in the glamour--the vacations and the outings that create the grander memories.

Yesterday Jace commented, "My life isn't very exciting. Every day is the same."

I laughed. Yep. That's what life is about, Jace. Cherishing the regular because the regular you enjoy today will shift and a new regular will become the norm.

And so, I will treasure this next week as the five of us are together before Darian heads back to Southern and Savana starts her new semester and a crazy schedule. I will treasure our every day life that is commonplace and average and yet...

...so beautiful.