Family Rituals and Tula's First Birthday

A few weeks ago my family gathered to celebrate my little niece's birthday.  I had just attended a Servant Leadership class on the power of ritual.  We discussed both personal and cultural rituals; public, private, or secret rituals, spontaneous or arranged and rituals that arise from the stages and ages of life.  So here we were, my little family, celebrating the birthday of a granddaughter, a daughter, a cousin, a niece...And while the weather wasn't great and my husband was sick and couldn't join us until later, what mattered was that we all sat down and ate dinner together that night.

We started the celebration early with a gathering at our house the night before.

the birthday gal with momma and papa.

Tula and Grandpa Jim

kissing my niece, one of my fave things to do.

with Grandma Kat and Papa Bob

with cousin Owen at the birthday party

I think she enjoyed herself.

we stretched our legs, went on a walk and breathed in some of that chilly Spring air.

devising ways to scale the church wall.

Darla dog

cousin time.

I had a fun time at my birthday party.  Bye everybody.

From beginning to end

the rituals of our lives shape each hour,

day, and year.

Everyone leads a ritualized life:

Rituals are repeated patterns of meaningful acts.

If you are mindful of your actions, you

will see the ritual patterns,

If you see the patterns, you may

understand them.

If you understand them, you may enrich

them.

In this way, the habits of a lifetime

become sacred.

--

Servant Leadership, Viterbo University