labor day banana splits

this weekend was truly a weekend. four days long, and nothing to do but eat good food, visit with family, and take naps.

my aunt jen and uncle joe came into town this weekend. they're the kind of relatives that can call us up and ask, "can we come visit?" the truth was, they are having their floors in their house redone, and they had to escape the smell of ether. just as well, i was excited to spend time with them without the craziness of a wedding weekend.

we had tuna steaks, corn on the cob, caprise salad, a five pound bag of Hanover's pretzels (which we ate in entirety), and our best menu- banana splits for dinner.

if i could describe my aunt jen, it would be a description similar to a character in a children's storybook. she is beautiful and graceful, but loud and bold at the same time. she has lived through tragedies in her health, marriage, and family. she knows every aching heart that comes at her, and can recognize character traits in you that you didn't even think you had. she loves to read aloud, even to me at 23. she is well-read, well-versed, and can pull the deepest doubts and fears from you after a simple conversation. she recognizes God in everyone, and has a contagious learning streak in her that makes you want to know everything about everything. she is talented as a seamstress, a chef, a mother, a grandmother, a medical nurse, a sister, a wife, and a prayer warrior.

after this weekend, when the boys all sat in the den for what seemed like all day, watching movies and eating pretzels, the ladies sat on the deck under umbrellas strung with white lights and our ice cream, talking for HOURS about our lives and the people in them. we talked about the women we've become, and the women we'd like to still be.

it was refreshing, to say the least, to enter into more of an "adulthood" after those few days. i was really included as a "grown up" and got to talk freely about marriage, faith, friendship, and food. i think i've learned more about becoming the woman i want to be in those 4 days than i have ever sat down to really think about.

i now have a new challenge. or maybe it's not new- maybe i've never challenged myself with it before. but i have to decide who i want to be. i want to be able to sit on the porch under white lights and share with my newly married neice and sister-in-law how my life has molded me into the woman i am.