Why "A Pinch of Parsley"
Nick and I on our Wedding Day-June 26, 2005
Grandpa and Grandma Sutter on their Wedding Day-November 25, 1955
So, why the title "A Pinch of Parsley" ? Let me tell you. Right before Nick and I got married almost 7 years ago, my sweet sister Amy gave me a book of encouragement, advice, blessing and the like written by all of my family members. Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents; all of which are phenomenal people in my opinion. I'd like to share with you the portion written by my Grandma Sutter:
Dearest Emily ELAINE,
You know one of the neatest things about you, in my opinion, is your middle name!!!!!!(It's sorta like "Princess") So little princess, my advice to you is to make everything FANCY----use parsley, cherries, chives, etc. Keep your wonderful, practical sense of humor. You have an uncanny ability to stay focused which will be a great asset to your family decisions. Also I must tell you to always LAUGH at his jokes, just like I do at Grandpa's!!! Ha ha. One thing more---CALL 1-800-GRANDMA anytime.
Love'n Prayers, Grandma
A few comments on that:
In case you didn't connect the dots, my middle name, Elaine, is my grandma's name!
When I first read what my grandma wrote 7 years ago, I smiled for 2 reasons. First of all, it caught me off guard. Grandma Sutter is sentimental, and sweet, and I was expecting something more like a precious prayer of God's love and faithfulness for the journey I was setting out on with Nick. Or maybe a couple of Bible verses to encourage me as a new wife. However she chose a new direction and told me to be fancy, laugh at jokes, and call 1-800-Grandma? What a goofball.
But then I smiled a second time because if you know my Grandma Sutter, you know what she means when she says "Be Fancy". If you are eating a simple, plain meal, throw some parsley on it, simply because it makes it look fancier, and therefore, makes it special. And she wasn't just talking about food. She was talking about birthday's, holiday's, anniversary's of every kind, losing a tooth, the first and last day of school, getting a good grade, Sunday's, Tuesday's, and so on, and on, and on. Grandma is quite skilled at making a celebration out of the plain and ordinary. She does it for loved ones all the time. And my mom soaked it all in, and passed it right along to me. In my opinion, this is a brilliant way to encourage the ones you love, to celebrate the little moments in life that really matter but could easily go unnoticed, to keep things fun, silly, and precious, and to just truly enjoy the blessings God has put in your life. So "A Pinch of Parsley" is anything from my life that I think is worthy of fanciness. Which to somebody else could possibly not matter, but to me was a moment worth remembering, a moment that brought flavor. Like today. I walked into my son's room during naptime to find him wearing only his shirt (which is not the way I left him), peering over the edge of the crib saying "uh-oh" while looking at his own diaper, full of poo, lying on the floor. Yes, this is gross. But this makes me laugh, and is a moment where I love my boy, and I am thrilled to be his mommy. It's a pinch of parsley to me!