That Fount of Love

On Sunday evening, my Mom and I journeyed to Adams County to celebrate my Grandparents' birthdays (12 days apart) as well as Fathers' Day. As I have mentioned before, retreats to Gram and Papa's house are always refreshing and eagerly-anticipated.

We enjoyed leftover kebabs from the HSM party (see below), long conversations at the dinner table, and a yardwork day on Monday. My duties were cleaning off the porch furniture and setting up the infamous fountain.

Now I love my grandparents unconditionally and appreciate the opportunity to serve them but honestly, I dread assembling the "fountain" every year. My grandparents received it for their fortieth wedding anniversary. The little cherub that personifies "love" atop this lovely cement fountain looks angelic. However, the process involved in assembling this peaceful fount of tranquility every year threatens the very constitution of my grandparents' marriage.

When May hits, Gram is brimming with enthusiasm to get this fountain out of winter storage and in running order. "Cupid's fountain" is somewhere between #100 and 'never if I can help it' on Papa's list of things to do to get the farm ready for the summer. This deadly combination always ends in a torrent of frustration and angry exchanges between Gram and Pop (which they inevitably regret later).

When Gram assigned me to this task again this year, I thought, "Good...perhaps I can get Cupid up and flowing without Papa having to become involved at all." I cleaned off the pieces and necessary hoses and was ready for assembling the fountain. Gram noticed that one piece was missing. "Oh, Johnny always puts my yard decorations in the craziest places...I'll go ask him where it is." Knowing that this question would send Papa from content to cantankerous in a second, I swiftly combed the farm for the missing piece of Aros (hoping to find it before Gram could bother Papa with this concern). Upon finding it one of the old pig barns, I scooped it up like buried treasure and hussled back to the house. I was just in time to watch the expression on my poor Pop's face as Gram asked for some answers about the whereabouts of her fountain.

"I FOUND IT!!!" I exclaimed, hoping to curb some of the anger that would inevitably erupt after being consulted on this thorn in his side.

As if insulted that he had been bypassed in fulfilling this responsibility (that "he would get to!"), Pop turned a few shades of red and marched sternly to the site of the fountain. There, like deja-vu, the ever-familiar scene unfolded as we began to assemble this blessed thing again together.

"So much for effortless assembly of the cherub statue" I thought.

Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong (faulty outlet, stubborn fountain motor, difficult aligment, etc) and they said some things they should not have said and will doubtless regret this morning....

BUT...

precious Cupid is on his throne again, heralding more than a half-century of marriage together to all that pass by its babbling cascade. Truthfully, I do not question the love that my grandparents share - and certainly, their marriage has been the foundation upon which they have built a family that loves Jesus and loves each other.

The peaceful breakfasts and the tranquil sunsets that my Gram and Pop will enjoy by the calming presence of the fountain this summer will make it all worthwhile, inevitably serving as sweet amnesia to the process of assembly so that Cupid might re-emerge next May.


*The fruit of our labor