Forever Young!
No matter what your age, never EVER forget how to have fun and you will stay forever young 🙂
Just the other night we were celebrating my son-in-law, Joe’s birthday. Right after dinner my 4 granddaughters disappeared briefly and then emerged again in a bit each dressed in a costume (we do a lot of dress up at our house ). They wanted to “put on a show” for all of us. They were 4 lovely little princesses with a dilemma. They needed a queen. And who did they want to play the queen? Why Lulu of course, (my mother) their 83 year young great grandmother. “There is just one problem Lolli”, they told me, “Lulu needs a costume. What are we going to do? Do you have any costume for Lulu?” If there is one thing we have plenty of in my house (besides dishes), it’s costumes!
It happens that my mother is very tiny. She is just barely 5 feet tall and weighs maybe 92 pounds dripping wet. I remembered that I had just recently made a new princess dress for Sadie (8) or Savannah (7) to wear when “dressing up” and the top was made of a fabric that was quite stretchy. I showed it to the girls and Lulu and asked “How about this? Should we give this one a try?” “Yes, yes!!!”, came the reply from the 4 cheering princesses in need of a queen. “Why, I think it is way too small. I don’t think I can get that on.”, says Lulu as she is already removing her sweater and skirt and the girls are clapping in delight because she is obviously going to try and make it work so she can be a part of their play and fulfill her destiny of being “the queen”!
Moments later she was sliding it over her head and pushing her tiny arms through the sleeves of this costume made for an 8 year old. The girls were giggling and clapping and squealing with delight, and when I say girls, I mean all 5 of them, ages 3 to 83. The dress was short and a little high waisted but it fit just the same. She burst out laughing at the sight of herself and then everyone else followed suit.
For the play she was seated in a place of honor.
Evangeline (4 yrs old) ran out of the room and back just as quickly with a BIG “diamond” ring for her to wear so that each of the princesses could pass by the queen, curtsey, and kiss the hand where she was wearing the ring. It was a play and an evening none of us will soon forget. The 83 year old great grandmother let herself again be one of the little girls playing dress up and entering the magical world of make believe where anything, and everything is possible…even an older lady, in an 8 year olds costume, for one special evening could be a queen. And more importantly, in all our minds and hearts, she will be forever young. Oh let me tell you, Sunday night in the Northrup home there was love, joy and oodles of abundant living 🙂
P.S. Rod Stewart made the song “Forever Young” a huge hit. The words and the thoughts behind them are lovely and we share them with you hear:
“Forever Young”
May the good Lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
surround you when you’re far from home
And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As you’d have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart you’ll always stay
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young, Forever Young
May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
with a prince or a vagabond
And may you never love in vain
and in my heart you will remain
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young
Forever Young
And when you finally fly away
I’ll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell
But whatever road you choose
I’m right behind you, win or lose
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young ,Forever Young
Forever Young, Forever Young
For, Forever Young, Forever Young
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Oh I love this! What a beautiful family.
We have an extra dress for Arabella next time you are here 🙂
Sure would have loved being there in person to experience this fun event– can just see Grandmommy diving right in for the fun! Thanks for the pics. See you all next month.
We wish you and John had been here too Jen. Can’t wait to see you next month! 🙂
Oh, sweet Robin, what a precious story you’ve shared with us. Your dear mother is so adorable! And what a willing queen she appears to be!
But, lest we forget the wonderful costume designer who “just happened” to have a spare queen’s gown handy. If those 5 girls were any cuter we’d gobble them right up! They’re as sweet as your birthday cake must have been.
And “Forever Young” was the icing on the cake! What a perfect song to wrap this story up in a colorful bow.
I can’t wait to meet your sweet mother.
So much dear & warm love to you and your family for enriching my morning with all this love.
As usual you are very kind Dick. My mother will be thrilled to meet you and will love you, just as we all do 🙂
It’s not every guy who has a mother in law who likes to have fun quite like Dorthy/Lulu/Grandmommy! She’s great, and one more of the blessings that I count each day!
You are sweet to say so honey 🙂 And you are a blessing to her too! XO
They are all adorable, especially Great Grandmother:)
You would have LOVED being here Cath and no doubt would have kept us all in stitches too! Miss you. XO
Robin, I enjoy your daily blogs so much and I loved this picture with your Mom in her queen dress. She is so precious, I always love hearing from her, please tell her hello.
My heart is bursting and I can just imagine the laughter!!
I know you can Coral … it was really a sweet evening :-)XO
I love seeing Lulu in her costume! She’s so cute:) And Tiny!!!
We’ve got plenty of princesses dresses over here. The next time Miss Emme comes over we will have to do a rerun. Lulu would love a photo with all 5 girls as princesses and her as the queen! 🙂 XO
I agree with all of the comments! Wonderful family, Robin, you ARE blessed!
OMGoodness this is BEYOND beautiful! ❤️❤️❤️ it! Thank you for sharing!
…an amazing group – I agree! (from The Other Chum!)