Ordinary Moments Around The Table

As I prepared for our first Thanksgiving in my new house, it dawned on me that I was missing something (besides all of my family) to make it as complete as it could be.

You can see part of it to the right of Josh...

...a new kitchen table.

Isn't it funny how we try to recreate things we had as a child as we grow up ourselves?There are so many things that happen at the kitchen table. Conversations late at night, hushed so not to wake the little ones in bed. Homework and paper reading. Plans for the weekend as we laugh and recall the events of the day. List making and grocery unpacking. Family dinners and early morning breakfasts, sharing thoughts and learning more about those we love and hold dear. Holiday buffets and cups of coffee with friends. All of these things and more happen in the center of where we gather in almost every home.
The table symbolizes the bond that holds a group of individuals together that we call family and it provides us a place to come together as one. Having a place to gather and reveal all of the magical every day things that make up our moments in this world, is really important to me. I knew I had to have a table before Thanksgiving if for no other reason than to try to show my kids a little bit of what I had growing up during the holidays. But I hope it will become something more as time goes on.

I hope it becomes part of their memory of how simple and ordinary moments can mean everything to you as you grow older. After all, the ordinary moments are far more plentiful, at least in my experience they have been, and they are what I remember as I reflect back on how thankful I am for all that I have been giving and all the wonderful experiences I have had in my 40 years.

The paintings I'm featuring today are part of a project I'm working on for a friend. I've been commissioned to make a painting for a friend's friend. That friend of hers, daughter passed away at the young age of 16 (or 17) last year after a very short and surprising battle with heart disease.
How quickly life can turn makes one realize how very important it is

to gather together and hold our angels so very tight as we share
the ordinary moments
created and remembered
around the
kitchen
table.

So much to give thanks to, and forever grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!
Jodi