For a first day in Poland, it couldn’t get much better than today: a day that slipped by without a pause as one moment bled into another to form a day that’s a blur and so much more.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to church at eleven!” Babcia announced, telling D that he was to drive from their home outside Krakow (where we were last evening) with all three kids and meet us in the church. “I haven’t had a chance to show off my whole family in the church in a long time!” she declared. In fact, I suppose she hasn’t had a chance to show off her entire family at all: the last time I remember us all being in the church here in Jablonka together was when L got baptized in 2008. That’s when we took this picture:
Naturally, when we got back from church, we had to recreate that photo:
Only one of them could fit in the swing, and poor S, who is the middle in age (one year older than L and a year or two younger than W), has been left behind in the height category.
After we had a light lunch, we decided to head to Nowy Targ for ice cream. Sure, there’s ice cream in Jablonka, but it’s not the same as Lodziarnia Żarneccy.
“Isn’t this just the best ice cream in the world!” K was raving as she savored her cone.
“Maybe for your generation, Ciociu,” S politely demurred.
Your generation? That makes sit sound like some kind of disease, doesn’t it? Be careful, Cousin S: middle age is very contagious, and it has a way of sneaking up on you unawares.
Once we got back, it was time to prepare for the day’s main event: Babcia’s seventy-ninth birthday. We’d invited all the aunties and cousins who live nearby, and we had a classic Polish ognisko with grilled chicken, kielbasa, boczek, kiszki, bread toasted over the fire, some beer, some wine, and a lot of talking and laughing.
