Elijah Harpole Schultz, my little 2 1/2 year-old grandson was here recently all the way from Naples, Florida. He's the happy child in my book, Rosalie Serving Italian,shown on page 234. Everyone who see this picture tells me how cute he is and that the picture makes them start laughing. With his deep dark brown eyes, olive complexion, and black hair, he looks like he came right over from Rome, Italy. The first thing he usually asks me when he talks to me on the phone is "Grandma, can you come to my house and play"? Of course I always think how I would love to, but short of jumping on the nearest plane, this can be difficult. So when my daughter Dana informed me that she would be visiting, I really got excited about seeing Elijah.
Most of you know that my first cookbook, Rosalie Serving Italian was released in late April of this year. Since that time, my life has dramatically changed, Many of my weekends are filled with book signings; and during the weeks I have hosted Cooking Classes, had TV appearances, did Charity Benefit dinners, and a host of other book- related events. Just keeping up with the newsletter, weekly recipes and blogs, and starting on my next book have practically engulfed me. Maybe Elijah could spare me time to do some "book things" during his stay.
Meeting he and his mother at the airport, and feasting my eyes on this beautiful child, I started to think how little I wanted to work on the book and how much I wanted to "play". After all, didn't the page in the book that Elijah represented say, " Live well, Love much, and Laugh often"? Since the words came from my own doing, and I hoped others would oblige, perhaps I could work something out. As soon as we got home, Elijah went straight to the spare bedroom where I keep the kid's toys, and drug them all out. Dana and I were talking and laughing and catching up on past events, when Elijah came right in and said, "Okay, Grandma, now you can play with me".
And play we did! There was 1 scheduled book signing that I was committed to, and it was that particular evening which was perfect for many of Dana's friends to come over and visit with Elijah. So between other Grandma, relatives and friends, I found myself entertaining Elijah, or was it him entertaining me? I did get some book things done, but mostly while he was sleeping. I have always tried to include my children in my activities, and I certainly didn't want to change routine with my grandchildren. The visit went great and having him in my home just reinforced my already strong feelings of how important family will always be. My two 7-year old grandsons, Roman and Grant are scheduled to spend a particular week-end with me in October, and just the fact that they want to be with their Grandma, makes me very happy.
So people, in all of our business and demands, take time to be with those who are most important. Wives, husbands, children, grandchildren, whoever is dear to us; cherish. In all of my experiences as a nurse, I've never held the hand of a dying person who said they wished they would have invested in more stocks, or achieved more things in life, but rather most of them only want their family. Setting goals and striving to keep them is important, but absolutely nothing can ever take the place of your family.
God Bless, and make some cream puffs (page 208),
Rosalie e-mail me at rosalie@rosalieservingitalian.com
Family is very important!
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