Greetings, Dear Sunny Buddies,
Today is my husband David’s 76th birthday. He has a passion for vanilla ice cream! And so, as a family, we went out this lunchtime for a celebration at a place aptly called Heavenly Deserts. It was a lovely time, as seen in our family photos below.
Looking around the table at the three generations present, I thought about all the birthdays and anniversaries we shared. I appreciate how these celebrations have featured in bringing us together as a family over the years. Every few months, there would typically be another great excuse to gather, sing and laugh a lot! Some months, like July, we had three birthdays and two anniversaries. December is a somewhat busy month too.
Big smile! Mmmm, happy memories.
Here in the UK, we are in the midst of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. I am not wholly on board with all that is happening, but I respect those who wish for this extended mourning period. What I have found most interesting about the Queen’s reign is the number of wonderful Jubillee celebrations we have had. In 1977, there was the Silver (25 years), followed by Golden (50 years), Diamond (60 years) and finally, last June, her 70th Platinum Jubilee. Each was a huge national celebration. There would be street parties and massive concerts with congregations of people in joyful celebration.
This Google image is from 1977. I have such happy memories of the fun of that day as we celebrated as a nation in such an uncomplicated way. I appreciate the gift of such ‘coming togethers’ that arise from having our monarchy.
Sometimes I just delight in the English language when it contains words like Jubilee, which is an occasion of joyful celebration. A time of jubilation. I looked into the root of the word jubilation and found terms like ‘a trumpeting of joy, and ‘to let out whoops of delight’. I also wonder about the link to three cheers. It is fun to play with archaic words like this, whose very sound evokes their meaning. Another example of an archaic word I love is salutations which means ‘I wish you good health’.
As I was thinking about this, I remembered a cartoon that my girls loved called Charlotte’s Web. When Charlotte the spider first greets Wilbur, she says, ‘Salutations’.
Charlotte says to Wilbur, 'Salutations are greetings; it's my fancy way of saying hello'. The girls loved this film, and it was played a LOT! They would run around shouting 'salutations' and would grandly bow to each other.
At lunch today, I asked our daughters Judy and Rachel what the word 'salutation' reminded them of. There was only a short pause before they said in unison 'Charlotte's Web'. Not only that, but they burst into a rendition of the 'Chin Up' song we used to sing in the car coming home from school. Click here or on the image to listen.
Chin up, chin up
Everybody loves a happy face
Wear it, share it
It’ll brighten up the darkest place
Twinkle, sparkle
Let a little sunshine in
You’ll be on the right side
Looking at the bright side
Up with your chinny chin chin…
Written by the Shermen Brothers and sung by Debbie Reynolds
Questions for this Week
Writing this today has been a lot of fun; my optimism has been well and truly nourished today with ice cream and happy memories. Here are my questions for you this week.
What is your favourite party dessert?
Do you have particular words that evoke happy memories for you?
What about songs from cartoons that you shared as a family?
As always, I would love to hear from you.
Ann.
Hello, Ann...and happiest of birthdays, David! I LOVE seeing photos of your beautiful family (rather than just Zoom torsos).
Our family has a phrase that inevitably pops up on birthdays and at Christmas. My siblings and I inherited our father's olive skin, so we can wear certain colors that our Mother cannot. This apparently vexes her because at some point, my sister received a compliment on an orange garment and my Mom quipped..."Well, it looks good on YOU because you can wear orange. I never could." Ever since then, when one of us receives a gift with the slightest hint of orange (whether it's wearable or not) we all shout, "Because you can wear orange!" My mother laughs along with us, bless her. We're a family of many inside jokes, but this is a good one, and always reminds me of our celebrations together.
Ann I’m late to the party but lots of blessings and love to you and David, wish him a belated and very happy birthday 🥳 🎂