Monday 16 May 2011

special moment


Louise and I shared a special weekend together very recently. I carefully arranged it so I could attend both the 3rd annual Sisterhood conference, and have our weekend together. Only to receive an email that sisterhood was scheduled the same weekend, as Louise and my special time together.
Was this God intervening? Probably. What had I learnt from Sisterhood? What was God trying to do here? To be very truthful, I felt torn. A weekend of renewal and being fed spiritually, or a weekend with my darling eldest, continuing to laying down the framework of our adult relationship. I WANTED to do both.  God had other plans. I was to follow his plan, because what’s the point of friendships, if I don’t have that with my children.
So the tickets were booked, the row of seating carefully chosen, lovely accommodation was carefully selected as well. The staff of the hotel documented that this was a mother n daughter weekend. So everything was planning out smoothly. Praise God.
Louise has been a dancer since she was 3, and at her very first concert, her class performed A spoonful of sugar, from Mary Poppins. The entire concert, that year was snapshots from this favourite musical ours. Louise was so cute in her little red spotted costume, knee length white socks, red ballet slippers and curly strawberry blonde hair, with a red bow. They pointed their toes and flexed them and looked adorable. Louise chatting to the girl positioned next to her during the performance. Memories. !!!

We have always loved Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews.  So this weekend, that I write about is surrounded with many lovely memories and family history.
We were to see the Musical MARY POPPINS. It was like a dream come true. I had to continually pitch myself through the weekend. Is this really happening. I drove to Sydney with Louise, the GPS found the hotel and we parked our car with ease. Arriving at the front desk to be given an upgrade. Wow.

Louise & I shared lunch once we were settled in our room, and decided on how to spend the afternoon. Chatting with Louise was easy. We were both pretty excited and happy to be able to spend a weekend alone, with no one interrupting.
Everytime the Sisterhood weekend came into my head, I prayed for its success, because this time with Louise is fruit from the Sisterhood ministry.

So the time arrived for us to get ready. We had worked out where the Theatre was in relationship to our hotel and we had sorted out dinner. I let Louise choose and she is a bit of a Thai fan. That’s Ok, I was happy just to be spending these precious moments with her. A drink in the Bar close by the theatre was another Treat. We had never been in a bar alone together as adults. We both couldn’t wait to see this long awaited musical. Not long now, I said. 
Mary Poppins was everything I thought it would be and more. It told a story from the book, and used, a little bit of poetic license. We clapped and sang along. I snuck a few looks at the Louise’s face. We were like children again. We savoured every moment of the show and purchased a little souvenir at the end.
We were exhilarated on the way home. We shared our favourite moments and planned the next day on the walk back to our lovely room.
Next morning we had Breakfast in the hotel restaurant courtesy of our booked package. This was followed by a trip to Paddys Markets, China town, and a detour to Mrs Macquaries chair- don’t ask Gps thought it was the way home.
We thank God for this weekend and its memories and times we shared, just being together and sharing conversation. It was special and we both want to do it again. So another tradition has begun; Mum & Louise weekends. They may not be as elaborate in the future, but it’s in the sharing that we will develop a more loving, trusting and open friendship as adult women. 


 Praise you God for your timing, not mine.






4 comments:

Sue Elvis said...

Leanne, I can just imagine your special happy weekend with Louise. Thank you for sharing. I am definitely going to establish a similar mother daughter tradition with my girls too.

Did you know PL Travers lived in Bowral many years ago? Some people say she dreamt up the idea of Mary Poppins while there. (I wonder how they worked that out!) Anyway, a couple of weekends ago, there was an attempt to make the biggest umbrella mosaic ever in one of the parks in Bowral. It was successful and now funds are being raised to build a Mary Poppins statue to put in the park.

Sophie received the complete Mary Poppins stories for her birthday. I am looking forward to reading them all over again! God bless.

Leanne said...

Thanks Sue, Louise wanted to get the remiaining ones in the series and share them with her little sis.

Vicky said...

This is a lovely, happy story,Leanne:) It makes me realise how important leisure time is to our relationships and how blessed we are when our children are our friends:)

Judy Dudich said...

How wonderful for you!!! We too, LOVE Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (AND Sound of Music) and Dick Van Dyke, as well! What a wonderful idea you have given me...a special overnight trip with my girls:))) Thanks for the inspiration!