These days. My Grandmother and all that she was to me is close at hand. Never more than today when I think of how many years we gathered where she was. And the lot of us - mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and cousins spilling over all returning by some deep instinct to her table. Years after her death I had a dream where I met her walking on a country road. Strange and wondrous in ways sometimes that dreams can be. I was a young woman then but in the dream so was she. Somewhere maybe in her 30's but with that old beore her time look about her that hard times and struggle can bring on. She'd been to the store for groceries meaning little. Meaning beans and flour and maybe coffee, and was walking home. Never had a car or learned to drive. In the dream she didn't know me. A surprise to me since she'd kept me from my first breath but I took all this in stride. Asked if I could walk with her awhile. Told her - You might not know me but I know you and your people and I will love you all my life. It seemed the thing to say. We walked for awhile together talking about small things and such it was in this way we arrived at her house where she invited me in to meet the family. To join them for dinner. Introduced me as a new friend. A welcomed guest. And all around that table were faces of those uncles and aunts at various ages and cousins yet to be born. All ages mixed up together sitting at that one old table. Smiles and stories and good food all around. And all these people from different times, different ideals, beliefs, hopes and fears, all so different, all just the same, sat down and broke bread and said grace. And I woke up thinking - this is the way. Wishing you all a day touched with the things that matter most in this life, the space where peace resides between us and blessings flow.