Sunday, October 18, 2009

pumpkin patch & friends

today, the kids and i headed out to cal poly pomona's pumpkin festival with some friends. the sea of people was unbelievable, but it was worth traversing it in order to see the beauty of a sea of pumpkins! for someone who's favorite color is orange, it was amazing to see those beautifully plump orange balls strewn over the hills and fields near the Farm Store with the upright sunflower soldiers as a backdrop standing guard over them and the people that were there. the gazebo was center stage for the kids to bring their goods over and narrow it down to the best pumpkins of the bunch they had chosen.


our family did not take any pumpkins for ourselves from the immense patch [though we did buy a spaghetti squash] because we have between 6 and 9 pumpkins already here at home. these beauties in our possession were grown in our very own garden, the one brian lovingly tended. in fact, these pumpkins [as well as many other fruits, veggies, and flowers from his garden] decorated the dais at brian's memorial service.

the girls and i are excited to carve a few for halloween and bake a few for some yummy homemade pumpkin pie! i have never done this before but am excited to try as baking is a tradition handed to me from all of my grandmothers, who were excellent bakers, each with their own specialties.

anyway, after taking way too many photos of sunflowers, chasing the boy around the patch for a bit, and then stuffing ourselves full of warm kettle corn [one of our favorite things], we headed over to Matt & Sharon's place for burgers and the fixin's [with our Dee-Licious meat, of course!]. it was wonderful, in more ways than one. the burgers were fabulous, the company divine and, really, the greatest part was that these friends freely spoke about brian, his memorial service and his life while the kids were there listening and participating in conversation. it's the first time that i can recall in the recent past that the girls have felt comfortable talking about their dad with other adults who knew him. they were comfortable sharing memories and good things about him because these friends felt comfortable talking about brian in front of them. it's difficult to put into words a worthy explanation of what happened/what i experienced, but it just felt.... good.

it was a great day -- being present with friends and hearing God speak to my heart in small ways, showing me he is there and that brian is with us in spirit.

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