Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Our last (family) supper

During a conversation with Caroline last night, I realized that Aimee's last meal was toast. And that was practically forced on her by me (see "Aimee's Last Day"). That seemed really sad, so I then recalled what we'd had for dinner the night before. That was a much better memory.

That Saturday night, we were trying to determine what to do for dinner. The big question was, do we go out and spend some money on a nice seafood dinner, or do we go to the store and buy some good seafood we can prepare at the house. After searching the local options, we decided on the latter choice - buying food and eating in. I volunteered to be our family ambassador to the store.

I scored us a nice deal - lobster tails at a pretty good price - and picked up some great accompaniments to go with them. Then between the various members of the family, we put together a really nice meal. We all sat down together, there in the vacation house, and had some great conversation with great food.

And as I sit here writing this, I just recalled what Aimee did during that dinner. After we started eating, she told us she wanted each one of us to say something that we admired about the person across from us. She and Justin had each other. Donna and I had each other. And Rowan and Caroline were paired up (so Aimee said something for Caroline).

It was a really nice, sweet moment, and exactly the type of thing Aimee did - create goodwill and harmony between those around her. She spread love in her own way wherever and whenever she could. We could have skipped that moment and had a really nice dinner, but her effort that night has a chance to make a difference if we'll just remember it and try to replicate it ourselves with others around us.

And to think, in the enormity of the tragedy of the next day, I almost lost that moment. Thank God I got it back.

2 comments:

  1. Paul's family has a tradition of saying things we admire about whoever's birthday we're celebrating, so at least once a year at a birthday dinner, you're guaranteed to get a few compliments. I love that Aimee just initiated things like that for no reason in particular.

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  2. What a beautiful memory Pat. It's great that so many people {who may have not known Aimee personally} are getting to see what a wonderful woman she was through your writing.

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