A change in plans, and I'm glad to live here...

Well, today started out a little different than what I'd originally thought it would-- but all to the better, in a lot of ways. It's a good thing for everyone that Meg et al live next door; her furnace was on the fritz again, and we got up to her letting herself in to bring Holly where it was warm while she waiting for the furnace guru to show up and figure it out. 

Long story short, the furnace is fixed, and we got a chance to have an impromptu Sunday breakfast together: Finnish Pancake (a type of dutch baby custard), maple sausage, and fresh raspberries. And hot coffee. Lots. G had to go to work, so it was just us three, and it has been delightful. Yes, I didn't go to in-person church, but the last time I checked, God is everywhere, and He would likely rather I was home to help in this mini-situation. And we have livestream Mass, so that works. 

What's interesting, too, is how, in Littleton, it seems that our young adults are bucking a national trend of some decades' standing. They stay. So, when Meg's basement flooded, her bff from childhood and her husband who own a cleaning business were first to come help. When her furnace acts up, it's another childhood friend who comes to fix it. When we needed an extra babysitter, another childhood friend's wife was right there to watch Holly. And so on. Small towns across America are not what they were generations ago, but it seems that here in Littleton, our young people whom we loved and raised are coming home, or never really left. They are the future, and they are a fun and vibrant group. They all have little ones about the same age, too, so I suspect that this tradition will continue. And I, for one, am very happy to see that. 

I'm reminded of the ending of the 1947 Elia Kazan film, Gentleman's Agreement, where Mrs. Green says this to her son, Phil (played by Gregory Peck):

• Mrs. Green: You know something, Phil? I suddenly want to live to be very old. Very. I want to be around to see what happens. The world is stirring in very strange ways. Maybe this is the century for it. Maybe that's why it's so troubled. Other centuries had their driving forces. What will ours have been when men look back? Maybe it won't be the American century after all... or the Russian century or the atomic century. Wouldn't it be wonderful... if it turned out to be everybody's century... when people all over the world - free people - found a way to live together? I'd like to be around to see some of that... even the beginning. I may stick around for quite a while.

To me, that would be the very best. 

Have a good day,

C